FTSE 100 drops on Glencore, US inflation

FTSE 100 Index, the British benchmark stock market gauge, Wednesday dropped by 1.88 percent or 122.84 points to 6403.45, as Glencore announced worse-than-estimated earnings and the U.S. inflation rate edged down in July.

Official data showed that the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.1 percent month-on-month in July, missing forecasts of 0.2 percent growth and following the previous month's 0.3 percent gain.

On a year-on-year basis, U.S. CPI increased 0.2 percent last month in line with expectations and up from June's 0.1 percent climb.

Commodities trader Glencore share price dropped by 9.74 percent topping the losers of the blue chips. The company announced a 29 percent drop in core first-half earnings because of declining commodity prices.

Share prices of Weir Group, Anglo American, Ashtead Group and Rio Tinto declined by 5.05 percent, 4.38 percent, 4.05 percent and 3.69 percent respectively.

Private motor insurer Admiral Group led the top gainers of the blue chips with a share price increase of 3.82 percent, followed by Hikma Pharmaceuticals (2.58 percent), Persimmon (2.45 percent), Randgold Resources (0.78 percent) and Taylor Wimpey (0.15 percent).

The trading volume in FTSE 100 companies was slightly smaller than its 30-day average. And the index has gained 0.50 percent so far this year.