A national emergency in South Africa took its toll on the London market. The South African Government has shut all underground mines because of a lack of power in the country as utility Eskom struggles with ageing infra-structure and coal shortages. The state generator said that the problems were likely to persist until 2013.

Anglo American, the South Africa-based coal and gold giant, was one of the worst blue-chip performers, down 139p at £25.90. Lonmin, the platinum miner which had been falling after Thursday’s worse-than-expected production figures, lost a further 129p to £29. Even Old Mutual, South Africa’s biggest life insurer, was hit by fears on the economy and lost 8.5p to 133.2p.

International FerroMetals fell 7¼p at 81¾p after the South African producer of ferrochrome, which is used for making stainless steel, said that it had been told to switch off its two furnaces for “about three weeks”.

Credit Suisse said that ENRC, the recently floated Kazakhstan miner, should benefit as the only nonSouth African ferrochrome firm. It set an 800p target and the shares jumped 101½p to 740p.

The “beloved country” produces 75 per cent of the world’s platinum and much of its gold and fears of shortages sent both metals to record highs, which benefited other miners without exposure to the country.

Vedanta Resources, which has mines in India, Zambia and Australia, gained 123p to £18.29. Rio Tinto was up 177p at £46.96, while its predator, BHP Billiton, rose 31p to £14.17. Xstrata increased 107p to £35 on talk from Brazil that Vale was close to obtaining funding for a bid.

The FTSE 100 was up most of the day on a feeling that the package designed to stimulate the United States economy would help save the country from recession. But the index ended down 6.8 at 5869 as Wall Street stocks moved into the red.

Cazenove’s Jeremy Withers Green made Persimmon the worst blue-chip performer, down 61p at 826p, after issuing a note that said the 40 per cent rise in the past two weeks meant that it was fairly priced. He expected gloomy mortgage approvals data next week followed by weaker house price data from the Nationwide and Halifax.

AstraZeneca lost 37p to £21.80 as Lehman Brothers reiterated its sell advice and gave warning about the impending expiry of drug patents. “We believe the earnings picture could deteriorate significantly in just a matter of months,” Lehmans said.

Imperial Tobacco rose 202p to £24.30 after it made reassuring noises on the size of the rights issue that it would require to finance its acquisition of Altadis, of Spain, and its distribution subsidiary Logista.

Mitchells & Butlers lost 18p to 390¾p despite vague talk of a break-up bid from a combined Punch Taverns,down 25p at 666½p, and Greene King, off 22p at 722p.

Ashmore, the fund manager that specialises in emerging markets, led the FTSE 250, rising 23p to 251p after Evolution said that Ashmore’s failure to rally on Thursday along with the rest of the market was unjustified.

New York: Wall Street ended a tumultuous week with a sharp decline as investors cashed in some of their gains. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down by 171.40 points at 12,207.20.

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