Markets: FTSE 100 steadies

FTSE 100 down three points to 6,568
Gold up 1.4% to $1,124.46
£/$ - 1.5613

Energy and mining stocks came under pressure. Rio Tinto led the miners down with a 3.9% fall, Randgold fell 3.3%, and Royal Dutch Shell was 3.1% lower. The day's biggest faller was security firm G4S, which lost 5.2%.

In Europe's markets on Friday, the Paris CAC 40 rose 1.3% to 4,986, and the German Xetra Dax was 0.8% higher at 11,014.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose six points to 17,408, the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% to 2,083, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2% to 5,033.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.4% to 20,519, and the broader Topix index lost 0.2% to 1,664. And in China, the CSI 300 slipped two points to 4,073, and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.3% to 3,965.

Brent spot was trading at $49.49 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $42.15. Spot gold was trading at $1,117 an ounce, silver was at $15.44 and platinum was at $992.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5608 and against the euro at 1.4019. The dollar was trading at 0.8981 against the euro and 124.37 against the Japanese yen.

And today, nine banks, including HSBC, Barclays and RBS, have agreed to pay $2bn in compensation to US investors after being accused of rigging foreign exchange rates, according to legal firm Hausfield, which is representing the investors. Investors are also suing seven other banks.

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