Markets: FTSE 100’s fall slows

FTSE 100 down 0.2% to 6,790
Gold up 0.18% to $1,174.07/oz
£/$ - 1.5349

Financial stocks were some of the worst performers, with wealth manager St James's Place down 1.9%. Among banks, RBS lost 1.4%, Barclays fell 1.3%, and Standard Chartered was 1.2% lower. The day's biggest faller was drugmaker Shire, which fell 2.8%.

In Europe's markets yesterday, the Paris CAC 40 fell 1.3% to 4,857, and the German Xetra Dax fell 1.2% to 11,064.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% to 17,766, the S&P 500 lost 0.7% to 2,079, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.9% lower at 5,021.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 slid 1.8% to 20,096, and the broader Topix index lost 1.7% to 1,634. And in China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.5% to 5,104 and the CSI 300 lost 0.7% to 5,317.

Brent spot was trading at $62.90 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $58.43. Spot gold was trading at $1,178 an ounce, silver was at $16.07, and platinum was at $1,108.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5350 and against the euro at 1.3576. The dollar was trading at 0.8844 against the euro and 124.36 against the Japanese yen.

And today, HSBC says it is to cut 8,000 jobs in the UK. The bank, which employs 48,000 people in the UK, is hoping to save costs in both its retail and investment banking divisions. HSBC's chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, said "the world has changed and we need to change with it".

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