Markets: FTSE 100 starts the week with a rise

• FTSE 100 up 0.5% to 6,146
• Gold down 0.1% to 1,082.75/oz
• £/$ - 1.5203

FTSE 100

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey was the day's highest climber, up 4.1% after reported a healthy order book. Drugmaker AstraZeneca added 4%, and Imperial Tobacco gained 3.9%. There was some relief for Rolls-Royce, which rose 2.8%.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.1% to 4,804, and the German Xetra Dax rose five points to 10,713.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.4% to 17,483, the S&P 500 gained 1.5% to 2,053, and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.2% higher at 4,984.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 added 1.2% to 19,630, and the broader Topix index rose 0.9% to 1,586. And in China, the CSI 300 slipped 0.2% to 3,758 and the Shanghai Composite was 0.1% lower at 3,604.

Brent spot was trading at $44.71 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $41.76. Spot gold was trading at $1,080 an ounce, silver was at $14.27 and platinum was at $866.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5160 and against the euro at 1.4238. The dollar was trading at 0.9391 against the euro and 123.30 against the Japanese yen.

And today, for the fifth year in a row Easyjet has reported record profits on the back of rising passenger numbers and low fuel prices. Pre-tax profits in the year to 30 September rose by 18% to £686m. Passenger numbers rose by 6% to 68.6 million.