- FTSE 100 down 1.8% to 6,036
- Gold up 1.52% to $1,272.26/oz
- £/$ – 1.4281
The FTSE 100 slid back yesterday, falling a 1.8% to close at 6,036.
Financial stocks were among the day’s biggest fallers. Direct Line Insurance led the index down with a 9.2% fall. Barclays slid 4.6%, Standard Chartered lost 4.5%, and RBS was 4.2% lower.
In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 1.7% to 4,350, and the German Xetra Dax lost 2.3% to 9,498.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped five points to 16,995, the S&P 500 was flat at 1,989, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.3% lower at 4,662.
Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.5% to 16,938, and the broader Topix index rose 0.5% to 1,359. And in China, the CSI 300 added 0.2% to 3,018, and the Shanghai Composite was 0.2% higher at 2,810.
Brent spot was trading at $40.68 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $38.65. Spot gold was trading at $1,264 an ounce, silver was at $15.49 and platinum was at $974.
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4257 and against the euro at 1.2833. The dollar was trading at 0.8997 against the euro and 113.70 against the Japanese yen.
And today, JD Wetherspoon reported a fall in profit for the first half of the year, despite a rise in revenues. Pre-tax profit in the six months to 24 January fell 3.9% to £36m, while revenue rose 6.2% to £790.3m.