Markets: FTSE100 extends Friday’s gains

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.

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.

David Stevenson, former MoneyWeek writer and director of The Fleet Street Letter, believessilver could be about to start a record climb. Click here(capital at risk)to read about the three irresistible forces David believes could push the price of silver through the roof.

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