Markets: FTSE 100 slides further

• FTSE 100 down 1.5% to 6,520
• Gold down 0.63% to $1,172.42
• £/$ - 1.5712

FTSE 100

Just seven stocks were in positive territory the top performer was Hikma Pharmaceuticals, which added 2.5%.

In Europe's markets yesterday, the Paris CAC 40 slid 1.6% to 4,867909, and the German Xetra Dax was 1.3% lower at 10,944.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 17,619, the S&P 500 added 0.3% to 2,063, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.6% higher at 4,986.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.5% to 20,329, and the broader Topix index added 0.4% to 1,636. And in China, the CSI 300 fell 4.9% to 4,253, and the Shanghai Composite lost 5.2% to 4,053.

Brent spot was trading at $62.74 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $58.48. Spot gold was trading at $1,173 an ounce, silver was at $15.58, and platinum was at $1,083.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5706 and against the euro at 1.4145. The dollar was trading at 0.9006 against the euro and 122.66 against the Japanese yen.

And today, the Airports Commission has recommended that the South East's new runway should be at Heathrow. The report, which took two an d half years to produce, claims a third runway at Heathrow would create 180,000 jobs and bring £147bn to the economy.