Miners remained the biggest fallers at the close of trading as the FTSE 100 closed down more than 84 points, falling below the 6,000 mark.

The FTSE 100 index was impacted by a number of economic events, not least the earthquake earlier today in Japan.

The blue chip index also dropped on data from the British Retail Consortium, which showed a sharp downturn in consumer demand.

However, news that US aluminium company Alcoa had experienced disappointing sales was likely to have had a bigger impact on the mining-friendly index, coupled with a Goldman Sachs report calling the end of the commodities boom.

Chilean mining group Antofagasta (ANTO.L) was the biggest faller dropping by 5.1 per cent to 1,409p and was joined by Kazakhmys (KAZ.L), which shed 5 per cent to close at 1,419p.

Fresnillo (FRES.L) fell by 4.9 per cent to 1,580p, as Anglo American (AAL.L) saw its share price decrease by 4.6 per cent to 3,187.5p. Xstrata (XTA.L) also saw its share price drop by 4.2 per cent to 1,464p, completing the bottom five fallers.

At the other end of the scale travel, leisure and tourism companies were the biggest risers after the Goldman Sachs call.

Cruise operator Carnival (CCL.L) added 4.7 per cent to its share price, closing at 2,476p, while International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG.L) increased 4.4 per cent to 225p.

TUI Travel (TT.L) rose by 1 per cent to 232.4p, while Whitbread (WTB.L) added 0.9 per cent to 1,661p.

Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT.L) was the only non-travel related company in the top five risers, adding 1.2 per cent to 1,982p.