Markets: Tesco surge gives FTSE 100 a fillip

• FTSE 100 up 2.3% to 6,569
• Gold down 0.23% to $1,208.73/oz
• £/$ - 1.5090

Tesco's announcement of cost-cutting impressed investors shares rose 15%. Sainsbury's followed suit with a 9.9% rise, and Morrisons gained 7.8%.

In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 rose 148 points to 4,260, and the German Xetra Dax gained 319 points to 9,837.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each rose 1.8% to 17,907 and 2,062 respectively. The Nasdaq Composite also added 1.8% to 4,736.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.2% to 17,197, and the broader Topix index added 0.2% to 1,380. And in China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.2% to 3,285, and the CSI 300 was 0.4% lower at 3,546.

Brent spot was trading at $51.00 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $49.02. Spot gold was trading at $1,212 an ounce, silver was at $16.34 and platinum was at $1,220.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5105 and against the euro at 1.2797. The dollar was trading at 0.8472 against the euro and 119.36 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, the rate at which companies are hiring permanent staff is rising at its fastest since March 2010, and salaries are rising at their fastest in six years, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG. Growth in temporary employment was at its strongest in 15 years.

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