- FTSE 100 up 1% to 6,752
- Gold down 0.25% to $1,085.03
- £/$ – 1.5603
The FTSE 100 bounced back yesterday, climbing 1% too close at 6,752.
Miners were the day’s best performers. Rio Tinto topped the index with a 3.9% rise, while BHP Billiton added 3.6% and Antofagasta added 2.9%.
In Europe’s markets yesterday, the Paris CAC 40 rose 1.7% to 5,196, and the German Xetra Dax was 1.6% higher at 11,636.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1% to 17,540, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 2,099, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.7% higher at 5,139.
Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.2% to 20,664, and the broader Topix index gained 0.5% to 1,673. And in China, the CSI 300 slid 0.9% to 3,831, and the Shanghai Composite fell 0.9% to 3,661.
Brent spot was trading at $49.47 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $44.92. Spot gold was trading at $1,085 an ounce, silver was at $14.56 and platinum was at $950.
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5623 and against the euro at 1.4327. The dollar was trading at 0.9107 against the euro and 124.89 against the Japanese yen.
And today, Rio Tinto saw profits fall in the first half of the year as the price of iron ore collapsed. Underlying earnings in the six months to 30 June fell by 43% to $2.9bn, down from $5.1bn in the same period last year.