Markets: miners continue to push FTSE 100 up

published 8 October 2015

FTSE 100 up 0.2% to 6,336
Gold down 0.15% to $1,145.53
£/$ - 1.5319

FTSE 100

Miners were once again the driving force, with Anglo American, Antofagasta, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, and Glencore up between 9.5% and 4.4%. Tesco gained 2.5%, despite posting a big fall in profits.

In Europe's markets yesterday, the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.1% to 4,667, and the German Xetra Dax was 0.7% higher at 9,970.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to 16,912, the S&P 500 added 0.8% to 1,995, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9% to 4,791.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 slid 1% to 18,141, and the broader Topix fell 0.8% to 1,481. China returned from its public holiday to see the CSI 300 rise 2.9% to 3,296, and the Shanghai Composite gain 3% to 3,143.

Brent spot was trading at $51.79 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $48.11. Spot gold was trading at $1,144 an ounce, silver was at $15.69 and platinum was at $936.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5328 and against the euro at 1.3576. The dollar was trading at 0.8857 against the euro and 119.83 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, furniture retailer DFS reported a big rise in full-year profits. Pre-tax profits for the year to 1 August rose by 200% to £10.7m, up from £3.6m the previous year. Revenue rose by 7.5% to £706.1m