Markets: FTSE 100 continues to climb

• FTSE 100 up 0.8% to 6,329
• Gold up 1.07% to 1,082.20/oz
• £/$ - 1.5291

FTSE 100

Speciality chemicals company Johnson Matthey was the day's highest climber, up 10% after posting a healthy set of results. Builder's merchant CRH added 5.5%, and Royal Mail was 5% higher.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.2% to 4,915, and the German Xetra Dax added 1.1% to 11,085.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped five points to 17,732, the S&P 500 fell 0.1% to 2,081, and the Nasdaq Composite was one two points lower at 5,073.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 added 0.1% to 19,879, and the broader Topix index rose 0.2% to 1,603. And in China, the CSI 300 was flat at 3,774 and the Shanghai Composite was 0.4% higher at 3,630.

Brent spot was trading at $44.09 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $40.46. Spot gold was trading at $1,082 an ounce, silver was at $14.27 and platinum was at $860.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5264 and against the euro at 1.4292. The dollar was trading at 0.9363 against the euro and 122.84 against the Japanese yen.

And today, the Nationwide Building Society reported a big rise in profits after its "best ever" year of mortgage lending. Pre-tax profits in the six months to the end of September rose by 34% to £802m, up from £598m in the same period last year. Residential mortgage lending rose by 14% to £1.8bn.