Markets: miners drag the FTSE 100 lower

• FTSE 100 down 1.4% to 6,135
• Gold up 0.32% to 1,074.96/oz
• £/$ - 1.5008

FTSE 100

Anglo American slumped 12.3% after suspending its dividend for two years. Rio Tinto lost 8.4%, Glencore slid 6.5% and BHP Billiton was 5.5% lower.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 1.6% to 4,681, and the German Xetra Dax lost 2% to 10,673.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% to 17,568, the S&P 500 lost 0.7% to 2,063, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.1% lower at 5,098.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 a fell1% to 19,301, and the broader Topix index lost 0.8% to 1,555. And in China, the CSI 300 rose 0.4% to 3,635, and the Shanghai Composite was 0.1% higher at 3,472.

Brent spot was trading at $40.73 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $38.12. Spot gold was trading at $1,077 an ounce, silver was at $14.20 and platinum was at $850.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5037 and against the euro at 1.3779. The dollar was trading at 0.9163 against the euro and 122.80 against the Japanese yen.

And today, the government has announced the winners of two rail franchises. From 2016 to 2025, Northern Rail will be run by Arriva, owned by Germany's Deutsche Bahn, which will receive £1.79bn in public subsidy. And the Transpennine route will remain in the hands of Firstgroup, which will pay £303m in premiums, until 2023.