Markets: FTSE 100 unchanged

published 16 July 2015

FTSE 100 unchanged at 6,753
Gold down 0.55% to $1,149.42
£/$ - 1.5639

Builders' merchant Travis Perkins was the day's top performer with a 2.8% rise. RSA Insurance added 1.8%, and South African packaging and paper company Mondi gained 1.6%. GKN was the day's biggest faller, down 2.8%.

In Europe's markets yesterday, the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.3% to 5,047, and the German Xetra Dax was 0.2% higher at 11,539.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped three points to 18,050, the S&P 500 lost one point to 2,107, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.1% lower at 5,098.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.7% to 20,600, and the broader Topix index rose 0.9% to 1,660. And in China, the CSI 300 rose 0.8% to 3,997, and the Shanghai Composite added 0.5% to 3,823.

Brent spot was trading at $57.26 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $51.73. Spot gold was trading at $1,146 an ounce, silver was at $15.02 and platinum was at $1,011.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5639 and against the euro at 1.4340. The dollar was trading at 0.9169 against the euro and 123.91 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, Sports Direct reported big rise in profits in the year to the end of April. Underlying profit rose by 20% to £300m, up from £249m the previous year. Revenue rose by 4.7% to £23.83bn.