Markets: housebuilders drag the FTSE 100 lower

• FTSE 100 down 0.8% to 5,904
• Gold down 0.4% to $1,127.45
• £/$ - 1.5151

FTSE 100

The building sector was the main drag. Building supplies merchant Wolseley was the biggest faller of the day, down 12.5%, while peer Travis Perkins lost 4.4%. Housebuilder Persimmon fell 5.2%, while Taylor Wimpey lost 5.1% and Barratt Developments was 3.4% lower.

In Europe's markets yesterday, the Paris CAC 40 slipped 0.3% to 4,343, and the German Xetra Dax was 0.3% lower at 9,450.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 16,049, the S&P 500 added 0.1% to 1,884, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6% to 4,517.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 2.7% to 17,388, and the broader Topix gained 2.6% to 1,411. And in China, the CSI 300 was 0.8% higher at 3,202, and the Shanghai Composite added 0.5% to 3,052.

Brent spot was trading at $47.87 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $44.84. Spot gold was trading at $1,125 an ounce, silver was at $14.64 and platinum was at $922.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5143 and against the euro at 1.3483. The dollar was trading at 0.8903 against the euro and 120.09 against the Japanese yen.

And today, Sainsbury's reported better than expected sales for the last quarter, and said full year profits should be "ahead of expectations". Total sales excluding fuel rose by 0.3%, but like-for-like sales excluding fuel fell by 1.1%.