Miners got a hammering today thanks to dismal results from Anglo American, and as traders tried to quit stocks exposed to emerging markets.

Anglo's dire figures infected the rest of the sector but traders cited another cause for the sell-off: fears the developing-world boom, which propped up demand for commodities for much of last year, is completely over. The two combined to make Anglo the Footsie's biggest dud, plunging 174p to 1062p.

Meanwhile, with zinc prices lingering near five-year lows, Xstrata sank 66½p to 653p despite saying that it would restart operations at its McArthur River zinc-lead mine in Australia.

Rival Rio Tinto was again in the spotlight - this time denying it was sounding out investors over a rights issue. Talk was the miner, which seems to have angered pretty much everybody with its decision to raise capital from China, was considering backing out of the $19.5 billion (£13.8 billion) deal with Aluminium Corp of China. But a spokesman said the report was completely unfounded. Rio shares lost 134p to 1866p.

BHP Billiton suffered in sympathy despite finding a fan in ING, whose analysts reckon it will be able to make acquisitions at a time when rivals have no cash to do so. Despite remaining ING's top pick in the sector, the shares retreated 21p to 1159p.

The FTSE 100 broke a five-day losing streak yesterday with a half-hearted rise, but today returned to familiar territory with renewed vigour. After heavy losses in Asia and the US, where the Dow hit a six-year low, the index dived 107.88 points to 3910.49, as losses from the miners weighed on the index.

Only six top stocks stayed out of the red as one trader said that even resilient stocks were giving in to profit-taking. He cited Autonomy, 31p cheaper at 1212p, as an example.

It seems Harry Hedge Fund still has no faith in the financial sector, with GLG Partners today admitting it is shorting investment bank Close Brothers, 7¼p lower at 430p. So far this year, the secretive fund has already announced it is betting against doorstep lender Provident Financial, off 4½p at 802½p and private-equity fund SVG Capital, 1¾p lower at 96½p.

Insurer Prudential may have calmed the City over its capital position - making it one of today's few winners, with a rise of 25½p to 282p - but rival Legal & General is still under the cosh. The insurer's shares have plunged by almost 40% in the past fortnight, and were off another 1.3p to 36.3p today as investors failed to feel reassured that it wouldn't have to raise more cash.

Could Marks & Spencer finally be on the road to recovery? JPMorgan reckons so, but investors shouldn't be celebrating just yet as it warns that they can expect to see their dividend payout cut from 23p last year to 15p.

The City big gun names M&S its top pick among non-food retailers, and rates it a buy. It sets a price target of 300p for the High Street chain - still a far cry from the lofty heights of more than 700p that Marks reached in 2007, but significantly above the 248p - off 4p - its shares were changing hands for today.

Figures show that the performance of its ailing food division is improving, which analysts say will help to drive footfall to the rest of the store. With M&S slashing prices on its grocery products - including launching a 75p jam sandwich this week - the gap between its clothing and food businesses is closing, which should also boost the number of customers visiting its stores.

Ladbrokes still has a few aces up its sleeve, according to Singer Capital Markets. The broker notes that the betting-shops chain, which yesterday posted a strong set of figures, is largely unaffected by consumers cutting back.

Advising clients to stock up, and setting a target price of 215p, Singer says that concerns over the impact of a spending slowdown on trading this year have been overdone. The shares slid 5½p to 179p.