Markets: FTSE100 extends Friday’s gains

Markets saw further rises yesterday, with the FTSE 100 climbing 0.5% to close at 6,585, its highest of the year so far.

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  • FTSE 100 up 0.5% to 6,585
  • Gold down 0.37% to $1,275.65/oz
  • £/$ - 1.5113

Construction stocks were among the day's best performers. Builder's merchants Travis Perkins and CRH added 3.8% and 3.3% respectively, and housebuilder Persimmon rose 2.6%. Carphone Warehouse topped the index with a 4.4% rise.

In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 gained 15 points to 4,394, and the German Xetra Dax rose 75 points to 10,242.

US markets were closed for a public holiday.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 2.1% to 17,366, and the broader Topix index gained 1.8% to 1,397. And in China, the Shanghai Composite added 1.8% to 3,173, and the CSI 300 rose 1.2% to 3,396.

Brent spot was trading at $48.46 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $47.26. Spot gold was trading at $1,290 an ounce, silver was at $17.84 and platinum was at $1,266.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5111 and against the euro at 1.3043. The dollar was trading at 0.8631 against the euro and 118.14 against the Japanese yen.

And today, Unilever reported lower than expected sales, as growth slowed in emerging markets. The consumer products group saw sales fall by 2.7% to €48.4bn (£37.1bn) analysts had been expecting a rise of 3.1%. Pre-tax profits rose by 7% to €7.6bn.

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