The decline in precious metal prices dragged down London and South African miners.

In the United States, President Trump's breaking of hopes for cooling down the Middle East conflict led to a drop in precious metal prices, causing the stock prices of mining companies in London and South Africa to lead the decline. Trump vowed in a speech on Wednesday evening to "harshly" strike Iran in the coming weeks. Fresnillo, Endeavour, Antofagasta, and the Anglo American group were the top losers in the FTSE 100 index in the UK, falling by 5.8%, 5.3%, 3.85%, and 3.7% respectively. On the other hand, South African gold mining company Harmony fell by 5.5%. New York gold futures fell by 4% to $4,619.30 per ounce; silver fell by 7.3% to $70.54 per ounce; platinum fell by 4.6% to $1,896.70 per ounce.