The FTSE 100 continued to fall yesterday, slipping a further 0.9% to close at 6,295.
Utilities were out of favour. Centrica led the sector down with a 3.3% fall. Severn Trent lost 2.8% and United Utilities was 2.3% lower. Commodities giant Glencore was the day’s biggest loser, down 4.6%.
In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 lost 1.5% to 4,911, and the German Xetra Dax was 1.6% lower at 10,815.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each fell 1% to 17,730 and 2,078 respectively, and the Nasdaq Composite was 1% lower at 5,095.
Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.2% to 19,671, and the broader Topix index slipped 0.1% to 1,589. And in China, the CSI 300 fell 0.2% to 3,833, and the Shanghai Composite was 0.2% lower at 3,640.
Brent spot was trading at $47.18 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $44.04. Spot gold was trading at $1,094 an ounce, silver was at $14.54 and platinum was at $915.
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5108 and against the euro at 1.4056. The dollar was trading at 0.9303 against the euro and 123.22 against the Japanese yen.
And today, Vodafone reported better than expected growth in revenue for the second quarter. ‘Organic’ service revenue – like-for-like , effectively – rose by 1.2%, leading to revenue of £18.4bn for the first half of the year.