Weak miners drag FTSE lower

LONDON -

The FTSE 100 fell on Monday, led down by mining stocks amid concern about the outlook for the world economy and heading closer to a test of important chart support.

The FTSE 100 <.FTSE> was down 23.62 points, or 0.4 percent, at 5,829.00 by 8:10 a.m., having closed flat on Friday to record a weekly loss of 1.1 percent after two consecutive weeks of gains.

"Quite a big day for the FTSE today with the 5,800 level technically a very important support level," said Lex van Dam, hedge fund manager at Hampstead Capital, which manages around $500 million (307 million pounds) of assets.

"If we can't hold that then chances are that the rally from the start of June has now finished and that further downside will be most likely.

(Reporting by Tricia Wright; editing by Simon Jessop)