- FTSE 100 up 0.9% to 6,490
- Gold up 0.27% to $1,158.46
- £/$ – 1.5361
The FTSE 100 bounced back from its lows yesterday, climbing 0.9% to close at 6,490.
Insurer Aviva was the top performer, adding 3.5%, while sector peer Old Mutual added 2.8%. Housebuilders fell after George Osborne targeted buy to let investors in his summer Budget – Barratt, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon were the day’s worst performers, down between 5.7% and 4.7%.
In Europe’s markets yesterday, the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.8% to 4,639, and the German Xetra Dax was 0.7% higher at 10,747.
In the US, trading on the NYSE was suspended for several hours due to a technical failure. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5% to 17,515, the S&P 500 lost 1.7% to 2,046, and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.8% higher at 4,909.
Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.6% to 19,855, and the broader Topix index slipped 0.2% to 1,579. And in China, the CSI 300 rose 6.4% to 3,897, and the Shanghai Composite added 5.8% to 3,709.
Brent spot was trading at $57.63 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $52.32. Spot gold was trading at $1,163 an ounce, silver was at $15.39 and platinum was at $1,034.
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5391 and against the euro at 1.3922. The dollar was trading at 0.9045 against the euro and 121.32 against the Japanese yen.
And in the UK, Balfour Beatty warned of a “shortfall” of between £120m-£150m in its 2015 profits. With analysts forecasting profits of just £77m, the firm is likely to make a loss. Shares were down over 11% in today’s early trading.