By Kit Rees and Atul Prakash
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top share index touched new 10-week lows on Monday, pulled lower by a drop in oil companies and miners following a further weakening of commodity prices.
The prices of key metals, including copper and gold, fell as the dollar rose. The price of crude neared levels not seen since 2008 on additional fears that the global oil glut would worsen in the months to come.
"The oil price taking another leg down isn't helping, it's bringing down some of the heavyweights ... and then continuing to weigh on the commodities sector," Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said.
Royal Dutch Shell (L:RDSa) fell 1.7 percent, while BP (L:BP) was down 1.8 percent as the company faces a class action lawsuit in Mexico over its deadly 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which a civic group on Friday said it had filed against the company.
Shares in miners Glencore (L:GLEN), BHP Billiton (L:BLT), Antofagasta (L:ANTO), Anglo American (L:AAL) and Randgold Resources (L:RRS) were down 1.9 to 6.6 percent.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index (FTSE) was down 0.5 percent at 5,924.04 points by 1513 GMT, set for its eight session of straight losses.
The benchmark index is still down around 9 percent so far this year, and touched a low of 5,934.11 earlier in the session, its lowest level since Sept 30.
In positive territory, South Africa-exposed insurance company Old Mutual (L:OML), which slumped nearly 22 percent last week, climbed 4.8 percent after President Jacob Zuma named widely respected Pravin Gordhan as South Africa's third finance minister in a week. The dramatic U-turn sent the rand 5 percent higher after it hit a new all-time low on Friday.
Shares in Investec (L:INVP) and Mondi (L:MNDI), which are also exposed to Africa, rose 8.7 percent and 1.5 percent respectively when the South African currency rebounded after falling about 9 percent last week.
"The rand's recovery is good news for South Africa-exposed stocks such as Old Mutual. Investors hope that the appointment of a new finance minister will ease the political tension in the country and give some stability to the markets," said Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown (L:HRGV).