Markets: FTSE 100’s slide continues

Markets continued their downward journeys yesterday, with the FTSE 100 sliding a further 0.8% to close at 6,366.

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  • FTSE 100 down 0.8% to 6,366
  • Gold up 1.13% to $1,218.45/oz
  • £/$ - 1.5151

FTSE 100

Equipment rental firm Ashtead was the biggest faller of the day with a 6.2% fall. But the rising price of gold saw precious metals miners bounce back Randgold and Fresnillo took the top two spots with rises of 4.9% and 2.9% respectively.

In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 fell 28 points to 4,083, and the German Xetra Dax lost four points to 9,469.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% to 17,371, the S&P 500 lost 0.9% to 2,002, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.3% to 4,592.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose two points to 16,885, and the broader Topix index slipped 0.1% to 1,359. And in China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.7% to 3,373, and the CSI 300 was 0.1% higher at 3,643.

Brent spot was trading at $50.51 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $47.25. Spot gold was trading at $1,215 an ounce, silver was at $16.41 and platinum was at $1,214.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5136 and against the euro at 1.2747. The dollar was trading at 0.8421 against the euro and 119.10 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, Sainsbury's reported a fall in sales over Christmas, and warned that the rest of the financial year would be "challenging". Total sales fell by 4%, and like-for-like sales fell by 1.7% in the third quarter.

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