Markets: FTSE 100 suffers fourth day of losses

• FTSE 100 down 0.6% to 6,461
• Gold up 0.07% to $1,227.54/oz
• £/$ - 1.5732

FTSE 100

Miners were again among the worst performers. Glencore was the biggest faller of the day, down 3.7%, while Fresnillo, Anglo American and Randgold lost between 3.3% and 2.5%.

In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 fell two points to 4,225, and the German Xetra Dax rose 63 points to 9,862.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% to 17,596, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite each gained 0.5% to 2,035 and 4,708 respectively.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 added 0.7% to 17,371, and the broader Topix rose 0.2% to 1,399. And in China, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.4% to 2,938 and the CSI 300 was 0.3% higher at 3,193.

Brent spot was trading at $63.45 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $59.33. Spot gold was trading at $1,223 an ounce, silver was at $17.11 and platinum was at $1,238.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5713 and against the euro at 1.2650. The dollar was trading at 0.8051 against the euro and 118.57 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, the number of shoppers on the country's high streets fell by 4% in November compared with the same month last year, despite the Black Friday' hype, according to the British Retail Consortium. Numbers in shopping centres fell by 2.1%, but visitors to retail parks rose by 0.8%.

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