Markets: FTSE 100 little changed despite commodity stocks slide

• FTSE 100 down three points to 6,912
• Gold down 0.03% to $1,201.63/oz
• £/$ - 1.5457

Banks Standard Chartered and HSBC were the two biggest fallers, down 4.7% and 4.6% respectively. Commodity stocks were also out of favour Anglo American lost 3.9%, while Tullow Oil, Fresnillo and Antofagasta shed between 3.9% and 2.8%.

In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 and the German Xetra Dax each rose 0.7% to 11,130 and 4,862 respectively.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1% to 18,116, the S&P 500 lost one point to 2,109, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.1% higher at 4,960.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.7% to 18,603, and the broader Topix index added 0.4% to 1,508. China's markets remained closed for public holiday.

Brent spot was trading at $58.55 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $49.06. Spot gold was trading at $1,199 an ounce, silver was at $16.29 and platinum was at $1,160.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5448 and against the euro at 1.3646. The dollar was trading at 0.8833 against the euro and 119.31 against the Japanese yen.

And today, housebuilder Persimmon announced a big rise in profits for the year. Pre-tax profits rose by 44% to £475m, up from £330m the previous year. Completed sales rose by 17% to 13,509, with the average selling price up 5.3% to £190,533.

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