- FTSE 100 down 0.3% to 7,019
- Gold up 0.34% to $1,193.53/oz
- £/$ – 1.4851
The FTSE 100 fell slightly yesterday, closing down 0.3% at 7,019.
Commodity stocks were out of favour. Rio Tinto lost 2%, while Glencore fell 1.9% and Anglo American slid 1.8%. Associated British Foods was the day’s biggest faller, down 2.9%.
In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.7% to 5,088, and the German Xetra Dax added 0.9% to 12,005.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each fell 0.6% to 18,011 and 2,091 respectively, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.3% lower at 4,994.
Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.2% to 19,746, and the broader Topix index added 0.3% to 1,592. And in China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.8% to 3,660, and the CSI 300 lost 0.6% to 3,940.
Brent spot was trading at $54.97 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $47.13. Spot gold was trading at $1,194 an ounce, silver was at $16.98 and platinum was at $1,141.
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4872 and against the euro at 1.3566. The dollar was trading at 0.9121 against the euro and 119.62 against the Japanese yen.
And today, construction firm Balfour Beatty reported a £59m loss for 2014, despite selling its US business for a £234m profit. Its UK construction division lost £391m as revenues fell by 6%.