Markets: FTSE 100 continues its rise

• FTSE 100 up 0.3% to 6,962
• Gold up 0.3% to $1,171.11/oz
• £/$ - 1.4753

Precious metals miners Fresnillo and Randgold Resources took the top two spots, climbing 5.4% and 3.2% respectively. At the other end of the table, Next slid 4% despite reporting a 12.5% rise in profits for the year.

In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.1% to 5,037, and the German Xetra Dax lost 0.2% to 11,899.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% to 17,959, the S&P 500 lost 0.5% to 2,089, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.2% higher at 4,992.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% to 19,560, and the broader Topix index gained 0.3% to 1,580. And in China, the Shanghai Composite rose 1% to 3,617, and the CSI 300 added 1.4% to 3,892.

Brent spot was trading at $54.21 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $43.65. Spot gold was trading at $1,171 an ounce, silver was at $16.13 and platinum was at $1,120.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4735 and against the euro at 1.3800. The dollar was trading at 0.9365 against the euro and 120.89 against the Japanese yen.

And today, Lloyds Banking Group has sold its 50% of TSB to Sabadell, Spain's fifth-largest bank, in a deal worth £1.7bn. TSB floated on the stock exchange last June a 260p a share Sabadell is to pay 340p a share.