Anyone who thinks that the stock market has put the worst of the credit crunch behind it should look at Ashtead, the construction equipment hire group.

Its shares dived 14¼p, or 22 per cent, to 49¾p yesterday as it gave warning that a shortage of building work in the United States and in Britain had forced it to cut rental charges by a quarter in February, March and April, and that lower rates would seriously hit profits. Panmure Gordon analysts cut their profit forecast by 60 per cent to £20 million.

The warning came only a week after United Rentals, Ashtead’s American rival, said that it had suffered a similar plunge in rental rates because of the crisis in the construction industry –yet such has been the general market euphoria that Ashtead’s shares had, until now, continued to rise. Much of its £1 billion debt pile, largely denominated in dollars, must be repaid by August 2011. Although no one thinks that Ashtead will breach bank covenants, and it is still expected to generate cash in the next 12 months, it will probably be left with a bigger chunk of its debt to refinance than it hoped.

Philip Sparks, an Evolution Securities analyst, predicted that the company could be left with $800 million (£530 million) debt, rather than the $600 million it had aimed for.

In a pause for breath after its 5 per cent rally last week, the FTSE 100 closed 26.59 points down at 4,435.5. Miners weighed on the index as metals prices fell. Citigroup encouraged investors to take profits, saying there was little upside left in the sector: “The market is close to pricing in a recovery in 2010.” Kazakhmys, the copper miner, which has been the biggest gainer in recent weeks, won the wooden spoon, sliding 104½p to 663p. Lonmin, the platinum miner, down 162p to £14.60, added to negative sentiment with a discounted rights issue and worse-than-expected first-half losses.

Thomas Cook fell 13½p to 263p amid fears that Arcandor, which owns 52 per cent of the travel company and which is in debt refinancing talks, would be forced to sell some of its stake.

Royal Bank of Scotland underperformed the sector, falling 1.3p to 46.1p, after Robert Law, a Nomura analyst, reiterated a 35p price target and said that the shares were already priced too high for a recovery. Mr Law prefers Barclays, up 6p at 287p, based on reports of new offers for its iShares business, or HSBC, up ½p at 578p, and Standard Chartered, down 88p at £12.

AstraZeneca rose 132p to £25.29 after trials showed that its Brilinta pill was more effective at preventing heart attacks than Sanofi-Aventis’s Plavix, which was the world’s second-best-selling drug last year.

International Personal Finance, the doorstep lender, continued to slide after Friday’s profit warning over bad debt in Hungary, losing another 12¼p to close at 82p. Mark Williamson, an analyst from Noble, said there was a danger of a covenant breach if bad debts spread to other Eastern European countries.

— New York: Profit-taking by investors after a two-month climb weighed on shares, as did the announcement by banks of large share issues to repay the US Government’s bailout. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 155.88 points down at 8,418.77.

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