- FTSE 100 up 0.6% to 6,174
- Gold down 1.24% to $1,235.25/oz
- £/$ – 1.4302
The FTSE 100 continued to rise yesterday, adding a further 0.6% to close at 6,174.
Aberdeen Asset Management was the day’s highest climber, adding 7%. Housebuilders Berkeley Group and Taylor Wimpey were also in demand, adding 4.1% and 2.9% respectively.
In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.3% to 4,506, and the German Xetra Dax added 1.6% to 9,990.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 17,229, the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% to 2,019, and the Nasdaq Composite was two points higher at 4,750.
Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.7% to 17,117, and the broader Topix index fell 0.6% to 1,372. And in China, the CSI 300 added 0.3% to 3,074, and the Shanghai Composite was 0.2% higher at 2,864.
Brent spot was trading at $38.68 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $36.37. Spot gold was trading at $1,235 an ounce, silver was at $15.37 and platinum was at $695.
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4235 and against the euro at 1.2811. The dollar was trading at 0.8999 against the euro and 113.05 against the Japanese yen.
And in the UK, Sainsbury’s reported a growth in sales in the last quarter – the first rise in two years. Like-for-like sales excluding fuel rose by 0.1% in the three months to 12 March, compared with a 0.4% fall in the previous quarter.