- FTSE 100 up 0.2% to 6,960
- Gold down 1.68% to $1,184.37/oz
- £/$ – 1.5351
The FTSE 100 crept back up yesterday, adding 0.2% to close at 6,960.
Royal Mail was the highest climber of the day with a 5.3% rise after hearing that Dutch rival Post NL would not be wetting up business in the UK. Other top performers included engineer Weir Group, and Sports Direct, which each gained 2.4%.
In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.1% to 5,046, and the German Xetra Dax gained 0.2% to 11,454.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.1% to 17,840, the S&P 500 fell 1% to 2,085, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.6% to 4,941.
Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.1% to 19,531, and the broader Topix index fell 0.5% to 1,585. China’s markets were closed for a public holiday.
Brent spot was trading at $66.67 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $59.67. Spot gold was trading at $1,183 an ounce, silver was at $16.20, and platinum was at $1,141.
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5394 and against the euro at 1.3668. The dollar was trading at 0.8879 against the euro and 119.80 against the Japanese yen.
And in the UK, Lloyds Banking Group reported a fall in profits for the first quarter, despite a rise in revenue, after it took a £745m hit from the sale of 631 TSB branches. Profits fell by 11% to £1.2bn.