Markets: FTSE 100 rallies

• FTSE 100 up 0.2% to 6,828
• Gold up 0.26% to $1,222.15/oz
• £/$ - 1.5384

Greek drinks bottler Coca Cola HBC was the day's highest climber, up 6.2%. Other top performers included safety testing firm Intertek, which added 4.9%, and pharmaceuticals company Shire, which gained 4.6%.

In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 rose 1% to 4,679, and the German Xetra Dax added 1.6% 10,919.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6% to 17,972, the S&P 500 was 1% higher at 2,088, and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.2% to 4,857.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.4% to 17,913, and the broader Topix index was unchanged at 1,449. And in China, the Shanghai Composite rose 1% to 3,203, and the CSI 300 added 0.8% to 3,469.

Brent spot was trading at $60.10 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $51.96. Spot gold was trading at $1,227 an ounce, silver was at $16.88 and platinum was at $1,200.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5388 and against the euro at 1.3461. The dollar was trading at 0.8747 against the euro and 118.90 against the Japanese yen.

And today, Rolls Royce reported a fall in profits for the year, blaming the fall in the oil price and reduced demand in Europe and China. Pre-tax profits for 2014 fell by 8% to £1.6bn. The company also warned on profits for 2015, saying they would be below expectations at between £1.4bn and £1.55bn.

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