3 FTSE Shares Crashing to New Lows

LONDON -- Fears of a long slide in the FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE  ) seem to have been put on hold for the time being, with the U.K.'s top-tier index putting in a couple of days of gains -- it's up 0.93% to 6,389 points by 9:15 a.m. EDT. That puts it 953 points up on its 52-week low of 5,436, and few will be expecting it to get anywhere near those lows anytime soon.

But if we want to see some companies that are trading around their 52-week lows, we need look no further than those involved in natural resources. Here are three from the various indexes.

Rockhopper (LSE: RKH  )
Rockhopper Exploration shares have been on a long slide since last summer, having lost more than 59% of their value over the past 12 months. And today, at 127 pence, they're bumping around their two-year low of 125 pence.

The firm operates in the waters around the Falklands, and hopes for the region were high just a couple of years ago -- but a number of dry wells in the area have dented confidence. But Rockhopper has had some exploratory success, so does it still have a chance of turning a profit? That's for you to decide.

Salamander Energy (LSE: SMDR  )
Salamander Energy is a profitable oil explorer and producer based in Thailand and Indonesia, but it saw its shares dip to a low of 156 pence today -- and an erratic ride over the past 12 months has left them down just more than 10%.

Earnings per share are expected to turn positive for the year to December 2013, putting the shares on a forward P/E of 11 -- and at the time of the firm's last interim update in May, things were sounding pretty positive.

Talvivaara (LSE: TALV  )
Our third for today is the Talvivaara Mining Company. The firm -- which focuses on nickel and zinc, with its main operation being its Talvivaara nickel mine in Finland -- has seen its share price fall almost 70% over the past year, reaching a low of 13 pence. At the time of writing it's only a fraction up on that at 13.5 pence.

Depressed metal prices don't help, and there's a small loss forecast for December 2013, but analysts are expecting the firm to turn to profit in 2014.

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