Markets: miners drag the FTSE 100 down

• FTSE 100 down 0.3% to 6,375
• Gold down 1.38% to 1,057.41/oz
• £/$ - 1.5036

FTSE 100

Anglo American was the biggest faller of the day, sliding 8.1%, while precious metals miners Fresnillo and Randgold lost 4.5% and 4.3% respectively. Glencore fell 4.2%, Antofagasta was 4.1% lower, and Rio Tinto lost 3.3%.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.3% to 4,930, and the German Xetra Dax lost 0.2% to 11,293.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1% to 17,798, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 2,090, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.2% higher at 5,127.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.7% to 19,747, and the broader Topix index lost 0.9% to 1,580. And in China, the CSI 300 rose 0.3% to 3,566, and the Shanghai Composite was 0.3% higher at 3,445.

Brent spot was trading at $44.60 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $41.56. Spot gold was trading at $1,057 an ounce, silver was at $14.09 and platinum was at $827.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5031 and against the euro at 1.4212. The dollar was trading at 0.9455 against the euro and 122.94 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, Aberdeen Asset Management, the country's third-largest fund manager, said funds under management fell by 13% in the fourth quarter as £12.7bn of investment left the company. Net outflows hit £33.9bn for the year as a whole as investors pulled out of emerging-markets funds.