By Alistair Smout
LONDON (Reuters) - FTSE fell to its lowest point in seven months on Thursday, its worst losing run since 2011 as investor concerns over the global economy resurfaced.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index dropped 0.6 percent to 6,367.89 points, its lowest level since January.
The index was down for the eighth straight session and has fallen every day since China devalued its currency last week.
British stocks roughly tracked falls across Europe as worries over slowing global growth built up.
The FTSE 100 is now around 10 percent below an all time high of 7,122.74 points hit in April.
Stocks struggled to gain ground despite a dovish set of minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve, suggesting that investors were nervous about global economic growth and weak inflation that has pushed back a potential interest rate hike.
"It's a continuation of the theme we've seen ever since the Chinese devaluation. It's a worrying sign that we're seeing such selling even despite dovish noises from the Fed," said Josh Mahoney, market analyst at IG.
Miners, however, rallied as they benefited from foreign exchange movements. The sector was up 2.6 percent, having sunk to its lowest since 2009 on the Chinese devaluation.
The dollar's fall following the Fed minutes sent copper and gold higher, and there was relief for miner Kaz Minerals. It surged 13.9 percent after Kazakhstan floated the tenge, sending the currency tumbling. [MET/L]
The miner, which has about 45 percent of its cost base denominated in tenge, reported that earnings more than halved in the first half, and that it would not pay an interim dividend.
While the tenge's weakness had also sent shares 6.4 percent higher on Wednesday, they remain down by around 30 percent since the start of 2015.