Markets: FTSE 100 halts its slide

published 16 October 2015

FTSE 100 up 1.1% to 6,338
Gold down 0.09% to 1,183.10
£/$ - 1.5459

FTSE 100

Financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown was the day's highest climber, up 5.3%, while sector peer St James's Place added 3.3%. Other top performers included chipmakers ARM Holdings, which gained 5%, and the London Stock Exchange Group, which added 4.2%.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 rose 1.4% to 4,675, and the German Xetra Dax was 1.5% higher at 10,064.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3% to 17,141, the S&P 500 added 1.5% to 2,023, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.8% to 4,870.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.1% to 18,291, and the broader Topix index added 1% to 1,505. And in China, the CSI 300 gained 1.4% to 3,534, and the Shanghai Composite was 1.6% higher at 3,391.

Brent spot was trading at $50.34 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $47.02. Spot gold was trading at $1,177 an ounce, silver was at $15.98 and platinum was at $997.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5469 and against the euro at 1.3603. The dollar was trading at 0.8794 against the euro and 119.12 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, "senior military and intelligence figures" have warned ministers that allowing state-owned Chinese firms to build nuclear power stations is a "serious threat to national security", according to the Times. Experts are worried that "trapdoors" could be built in to the systems to enable China to gain control.