- FTSE 100 down 2.4% to 5,536
- Gold up 4.14% to $1,246.70/oz
- £/$ – 1.4477
The FTSE 100 fell heavily yesterday, sliding 2.4% to close at 5.536.
Financial stocks bore the brunt of the losses. Aberdeen Asset Management was the day’s biggest faller, down 7.6%, while Prudential lost 7.5% and Barclays was 7% lower. Precious metals miners, however, tracked the rise of the gold price. Randgold added 7.5% and Fresnillo gained 5.4%.
In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 slumped 4.1% to 3,896, and the German Xetra Dax fell 2.9% to 8,752.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.6% to 15,660, the S&P 500 lost 1.2% to 1,829, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.4% to 4,266.
Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 4.8% to 14,952, and the broader Topix index lost 5.4% to 1,196. Chinese markets remained closed for public holidays.
Brent spot was trading at $30.98 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $27.04. Spot gold was trading at $1,238 an ounce, silver was at $15.64 and platinum was at $950.
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4507 and against the euro at 1.2865. The dollar was trading at 0.8868 against the euro and 112.58 against the Japanese yen.
And in the UK, Rolls-Royce reported a fall in profits, and said it would be cutting its dividend. Full year pre-tax profits fell by 12% to £1.4bn. Final dividend payment was cut by 50% to 7.1p. Shares rose sharply this morning, however, up by 12.4%.