Markets: FTSE 100 slips further

  • FTSE 100 down 0.3% to 6,356
  • Gold up 0.7% to 1,064.77/oz
  • £/$ – 1.5056

The FTSE 100 fell further yesterday, slipping 0.3% to close at 6,356.

Fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management was the biggest faller of the day, down 4.7% after reporting outflows of £12.7bn. Utilities were under fire, with SSE losing 1.8% and United Utilities 1.5% lower. Morrisons fell 1.4% ahead of a probable exit from the FTSE 100 in tomorrow’s quarterly reshuffle.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.6% to 4,957, and the German Xetra Dax added 0.8% to 11,382.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% to 17,719, the S&P 500 lost 0.5% to 2,080, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.4% lower at 5,108.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.3% to 20,012, and the broader Topix index added 1.4% to 1,601. And in China, the CSI 300 rose 0.7% to 3,591, and the Shanghai Composite was 0.3% higher at 3,456.

Brent spot was trading at $44.74 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $41.83. Spot gold was trading at $1,070 an ounce, silver was at $14.15 and platinum was at $836.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5104 and against the euro at 1.4260. The dollar was trading at 0.9441 against the euro and 122.91 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, the Bank of England says it could force banks to hold capital of up to £10bn ahead of a slowdown in the economy after performing “stress tests” on the industry. All banks passed the tests, but RBS and Standard Chartered were the weakest, the Bank said. It also said it was “ready to take action” in the buy-to-let market, after lending rose by 10% in the first nine months of the year.


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