Markets: FTSE100 hammered as copper drags miners down

• FTSE 100 down 2.4% to 6,388
• Gold down 0.17% to $1,228.70/oz
• £/$ - 1.5234

Glencore was the biggest faller of the day with a 9.3% slump. Anglo American fell 9%, and BHP Billiton was 6.1% lower.

In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 fell 57 points to 4,233, and the German Xetra Dax lost 124 points to 9,817.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1% to 17,427, the S&P 500 lost 0.6% to 2,011, and the Nasdaq Composite also was 0.5% lower at 4,639.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.9% to 17,108, and the broader Topix index gained 1.4% to 1,376. And in China, the Shanghai Composite rose 3.5% to 3,336, and the CSI 300 was 2.9% higher at 3,604.

Brent spot was trading at $47.60 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $47.86. Spot gold was trading at $1,229 an ounce, silver was at $16.78 and platinum was at $1,225.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5205 and against the euro at 1.2933. The dollar was trading at 0.8505 against the euro and 117.62 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, Argos reported disappointing sales for the last quarter, according to parent group Home Retail. Like-for-like sales rose by just 0.1% in the 18 weeks to 3 January. Total sales rose by 0.8% to £1.8bn. Parent Group Home Retail fell by 5% in today's early trading.

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