- FTSE 100 down 2.5% to 5,982
- Gold up 0.7% to $1,324.60/oz
- £/$ – 1.3225
The FTSE 100 continued to slide yesterday, falling a further 2.5% to close at 5,982.
Housebuilders were once again among the day’s biggest losers. Barratt Developments lost 19.3% and Taylor Wimpey fell 14.8%, while builder’s merchant Travis Perkins slid 16.5%.
Gold miners Randgold Resources and Fresnillo were again the day’s highest climbers, up 8.7% and 7% respectively.
In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 1.9% to 4,030 and the German Xetra Dax slid 3% to 9,268.
In the US yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5% to 17,140, the S&P 500 lost 31.8% to 2,000, and the Nasdaq Composite was 2.4% lower at 4,594.
Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.1% to 15,323 and the broader Topix index slipped 0.1% to 1,224. And in China, the CSI 300 gained 0.5% to 3,136 and the Shanghai Composite added 0.6% to 2,912.
Brent spot was trading at $48.04 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $47.28. Spot gold was trading at $1,314 an ounce, silver was at $17.63 and platinum was at $979.
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.3351 and against the euro at 1.2058. The dollar was trading at 0.9031 against the euro and 102.23 against the Japanese yen.
And in the UK today, housebuilder Redrow said profits would be ahead of market expectations this year, with full-year pre-tax profits above the top estimate of £240m. Shrugging off suggestions that the EU referendum had dented sales, the company said that the “chronic shortage of housing leaves market fundamentals unchanged”.