- FTSE 100 down 0.5% to 6,876
- Gold flat at $1,167.15/oz
- £/$ – 1.5128
The FTSE 100 fell further yesterday, slipping 0.5% to close at 6,876, its lowest in three weeks.
Building supplies firm CRH was the day’s biggest faller, down 3.9%; sector peer Travis Perkins was also out of favour with a 2% slide.
In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.6% to 4,937, and the German Xetra Dax added 0.3% to 11,582.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8% to 17,995, the S&P 500 added 0.4% to 2,079, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.3% higher at 4,942.
Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.7% to 18,665, and the broader Topix index fell 0.5% to 1,524. And in China, the Shanghai Composite and the CSI 300 each fell 0.5% to 3,286 and 3,520 respectively..
Brent spot was trading at $58.92 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $49.70. Spot gold was trading at $1,157 an ounce, silver was at $15.61 and platinum was at $1,129.
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5055 and against the euro at 1.3983. The dollar was trading at 0.9288 against the euro and 121.78 against the Japanese yen.
And today, Prudential reported a 14% rise in profits for the year. The insurer made a pre-tax operating profit of £3.2bn. At the same time, Prudential announced that its chief executive, Tidjane Thiam, would step down in May to take up a role at Credit Suisse.