Markets: financials drag FTSE100 down

  • FTSE 100 down 1.4% to 5,837
  • Gold up 1.2% to $1,142.65/oz
  • £/$ – 1.4603

The FTSE100 fell further yesterday, down 1.4% to close at 5,922.

Financial stocks were once again the worst performers. Aberdeen Asset Management led the market down, sliding 9.4% fall, while Barclays lost 4.6%, Standard Chartered fell 4.1% and HSBC was 3.9% lower.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 1.3% to 4,226, and the German Xetra Dax lost 1.5% to 9,434.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1% to 16,336, the S&P 500 added 0.5% to 1,912, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.3% to 4,504.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.9% to 17,044, and the broader Topix index lost 1.2% to 1,388. And in China, the CSI 300 rose 1.2% to 2,984, and the Shanghai Composite added 1.5% to 2,781.

Brent spot was trading at $35.06 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $32.39. Spot gold was trading at $1,145 an ounce, silver was at $14.72 and platinum was at $885.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4623 and against the euro at 1.3142. The dollar was trading at 0.8987 against the euro and 117.74 against the Japanese yen.

And today, Royal Dutch Shell reported a big slide in profits for the last year as the oil price slump drags on. Full year profits slid from $19bn in 2014 to just $3.8bn.


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