China, a major consumer of commodities in the world, let the yuan slip, sending regional currencies and stock markets tumbling. The offshore yuan fell to a fresh record low since trading started in 2010, while local stock markets were suspended less than half an hour after opening, the second emergency suspension this week.

The FTSE 350 Mining <.FTNMX1770> and Oil and Gas <.FTNMX0530> index fell more than 5 percent to their lowest level in more than 11 years, tracking a 1.1-3.5 percent fall in prices of commodities such as copper, aluminium and crude oil.

Shares in Anglo American (>> Anglo American plc), Glencore (>> Glencore PLC), BHP Billiton (>> BHP Billiton plc), BG Group (>> BG Group plc) and Royal Dutch Shell fell 5.6 to 9.7 percent.

The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 index <.FTSE> of Britain's blue-chip companies hit a three-week low and was down 2.9 percent by 0902 GMT.

(Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)