Markets: FTSE 100 hit by falling tobacco and property stocks

• FTSE 100 down 0.4% to 6,928
• Gold up 0.33% to $1,192.99
• £/$ - 1.5343

Imperial Tobacco was the day's biggest faller, down 3%, while British American Tobacco lost 2.6%. Property stocks were also under fire, with British Land down 2.1%, and Land Securities, Hammerson and Intu losing between 2% and 1.8%.

In Europe's markets yesterday, the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.4% to 5,004, and the German Xetra Dax lost 0.9% to 11,328.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% to 18,011, the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% to 2,109, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.1% lower at 5,076.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 and the broader Topix index each fell 0.3% to 20,473 and 1,308 respectively. And in China, the Shanghai Composite fell one point to 4,909, and the CSI 300 lost 0.3% to 5,144.

Brent spot was trading at $64.95 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $60.58. Spot gold was trading at $1,190 an ounce, silver was at $16.66, and platinum was at $1,110.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5343 and against the euro at 1.3784. The dollar was trading at 0.8983 against the euro and 124.17 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, house prices rose by 0.3%, according to the latest figures from the Nationwide. Year on year, prices rose by 4.6%, down from 5.2% in April. The average price of a property now stands at £195,166.