Markets: FTSE 100 slips as miners drag

• FTSE 100 down 0.1% to 6,688
• Gold down 0.82% to $1,086.80
• £/$ - 1.5587

FTSE 100

Miners were the main drag on the index. Anglo American was the day's worst performer with a 4% slide, while BHP Billiton lost 3.9% and Glencore, Rio Tinto and Fresnillo fell between 3.7% and 2.2%.

In Europe's markets yesterday, the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.8% to 5,120, and the German Xetra Dax was 1.2% higher at 11,443.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% to 17,598, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to 2,098, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.3% lower at 5,115.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.1% to 20,520, and the broader Topix index was flat at 1,659. And in China, the CSI 300 rose 3.1% to 3,948, and the Shanghai Composite gained 3.7% to 3,756.

Brent spot was trading at $50.06 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $45.74. Spot gold was trading at $1,091 an ounce, silver was at $14.55 and platinum was at $954.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5604 and against the euro at 1.4233. The dollar was trading at 0.9120 against the euro and 123.88 against the Japanese yen.

And today, the government says it has raised £2.1bn from the sale of RBS shares. It sold 630 million shares, or 5.4% of the bank, at 330p each. The government bought the shares for 500p, meaning it made a £1.07bn loss on the deal.