- FTSE 100 down 0.7% to 6,186
- Gold up 1.07% to $1,131.55
- £/$ – 1.5591
The FTSE 100 fell back yesterday ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s announcement on interest rates. The index lost 0.7% to close at 6,186.
Engineering group Smiths was the day’s biggest faller, down 4%. Sector peer Weir Group fell 2.3%, and Babcock International was 2.3% lower.
In Europe’s markets yesterday, the Paris CAC 40 rose one point to 4,655, and the German Xetra Dax was two points higher at 10,229.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% to 16,674, the S&P 500 lost 0.3% to 1,990, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.1% higher at 4,893.
Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 and the broader Topix each slid 2% to 18,070 and 1,462 respectively. And in China, the CSI 300 gained 0.4% to 3,251, and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4% to 3,097.
Brent spot was trading at $48.76 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $46.35. Spot gold was trading at $1,131 an ounce, silver was at $15.17 and platinum was at $976.
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5583 and against the euro at 1.3637. The dollar was trading at 0.8751 against the euro and 119.44 against the Japanese yen.
And today, online payments processing company Worldpay is to float on the London Stock Exchange. Owners Bain Capital and Advent International, which bought Worldpay from RBS for almost £2bn five year ago, hope to raise £890m to pay off debt.