Markets: FTSE 100 sees big falls as investors react to ECB

• FTSE 100 down 2.3% to 6,275
• Gold up 0.8% to 1,062.18/oz
• £/$ - 1.5144

FTSE 100

Sports Direct was the day's biggest faller, sliding 5.4%. Ashtead lost 5% and Johnson Matthey was 4.7% lower. Just five stocks managed an increase housebuilder Berkeley Group rose 1.2%, while Sage, Whitbread, Meggitt, and G4S rose between 0.8% and 0.04% while SAB Miller was unchanged.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 3.6% to 4,730, and the German Xetra Dax lost 3.6% to 10,789.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each fell 1.4% to 17,477 and 2,049 respectively, and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.7% lower at 5,037.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 2.2% to 19,504, and the broader Topix index lost 1.8% to 1,574. And in China, the CSI 300 slid 1.9% to 3,677, and the Shanghai Composite was 1.7% lower at 3,690.

Brent spot was trading at $43.68 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $41.13. Spot gold was trading at $1,061 an ounce, silver was at $14.09 and platinum was at $846.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5114 and against the euro at 1.3882. The dollar was trading at 0.9184 against the euro and 122.70 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, house price growth will slow to an annual rate of between 4% and 5% in 2016, according to the Halifax. However, despite predicting a rise of between 3% and 5% in 2015, its latest figures claim prices rose by 9.7% in the year to October.