Markets: FTSE 100 ends its positive run

published 26 June 2015

FTSE 100 down 0.5% to 6,807
Gold down 0.19% to $1,173.25
£/$ - 1.5747

Miners had a poor day. BHP Billiton led the sector down, falling 2.7%, while Rio Tinto lost 1.7% and Glencore was 1.6% lower. The day' worst performer was United Utilities, which fell 3.7% after going ex-dividend.

In Europe's markets yesterday, the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.1% to 5,041, and the German Xetra Dax was two points higher at 11,473.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% to 17,890, the S&P 500 lost 0.3% to 2,102, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.2% lower at 5,112.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.3% to 20,706, and the broader Topix index lost 0.2% to 1,667. And in China, the CSI 300 slumped 7.9% to 4,336, and the Shanghai Composite lost 7.5% to 4,192.

Brent spot was trading at $63.34 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $59.62. Spot gold was trading at $1,176 an ounce, silver was at $15.80, and platinum was at $1,075.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5750 and against the euro at 1.4054. The dollar was trading at 0.8923 against the euro and 123.39 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, Tesco reported a slowing in sales decline for the last quarter. Like for like sales fell by 1.3% in the 13 weeks to 30 May, an improvement on the 1.7% decline in the previous quarter, and ahead of analysts' estimates of between 1.6% and 3%. Tesco's share price was up over 3% in today's early trading.