Markets: FTSE 100 ends the week on a high note

In Friday's markets, the FTSE 100 ended the week with a 1% rise, boosted by upbeat employment figures from the US.

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  • FTSE 100 up 1% to 6,742
  • Gold down 1.06% to $1,192.51/oz
  • £/$ - 1.5580

FTSE 100

Banks were among the best performers. Barclays rose 2.8% and RBS added 2.7% and HSBC was 2.4% higher. The day's biggest riser was International Consolidated Airlines, which gained 4.3%. Commodity stocks were out of favour, however Tullow Oil lost 3.2%, and Randgold fell 2.9%.

In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 rose 96 points to 4,419, and the German Xetra Dax added 236 points to 10,087.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 17,958, and the S&P 500 gained 0.2% to 2,075. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.2% to 4,780.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 and the broader Topix each rose 0.1% to 17,935 and 1,447 respectively. And in China, the Shanghai Composite gained 2.8% to 3,020 and the CSI 300 was 4.1% higher at 3,252.

Brent spot was trading at $68.09 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $65.03. Spot gold was trading at $1,196 an ounce, silver was at $16.34 and platinum was at $1,230.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5564 and against the euro at 1.2690. The dollar was trading at 0.8153 against the euro and 121.26 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, Sainsbury's is the target of the British activist' investment fund Crystal Amber, according to reports in the Sunday Telegraph. The fund has been approached by an unnamed US investor, and is looking at building stake worth "tens of millions of pounds", according to the newspaper. Sainsbury's shares rose by 4% in early trading today.

David Stevenson, former MoneyWeek writer and director of The Fleet Street Letter, believessilver could be about to start a record climb. Click here(capital at risk)to read about the three irresistible forces David believes could push the price of silver through the roof.

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