LONDON, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The FTSE of the London stock market fell nearly 2 percent by midday Wednesday as mining and oil shares weakened after commodity prices were hit by the strengthening U.S. dollar.

    By midday, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 110.3 points, or 1.82 percent, at 5,947.4.

    Oil giants BP and Shell both fell by more than 2.5 percent as the price of crude fell below 124 U.S. dollars a barrel, its lowest level for nearly three weeks.

    Mining shares also came under pressure, with both Vedanta Resources and Kazakhmys down 3 percent.