European markets rise as FTSE takes a holiday

• FTSE 100 up 0.4% to 6,985.95
• Gold up 0.83% to $1,188.32/oz
• £/$ - 1.5120

Lloyds Banking Group was the day's highest climber, up 7.1% after increasing profits by more than forecast. Miners were also in demand, with Anglo American adding 5.4%, Rio Tinto up 3.9% and BHP Billiton 3% higher.

In Europe's markets yesterday, the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.7% to 5,081, and the German Xetra Dax gained 1.4% to 11,619.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each rose 0.3% to 18,070 and 5,114 respectively, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.2% to 5,016.

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In Japan, markets were closed for a public holiday. And in China, the Shanghai Composite slid 4.1% to 4,298, and the CSI 300 was 4% lower at 4,596.

Brent spot was trading at $66.28 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $58.76. Spot gold was trading at $1,189 an ounce, silver was at $16.36, and platinum was at $1,144.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5124 and against the euro at 1.3630. The dollar was trading at 0.9012 against the euro and 120.12 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, financial services company Aberdeen Asset Management reported a big jump in profits for the first half of the year. Profits rose by 25% to £270.2m in the six months to the end of March, with revenue up by 20% to £605.2m.