Markets: FTSE 100 slides below 6,000

• FTSE 100 down 2.2% to 5,952
• Gold up 0.3% to 1,074.74/oz
• £/$ - 1.5213

FTSE 100

Energy and commodity stocks were among the worst performers. Among miners, Anglo American lost 7.6%, while BHP Billiton fell 5% and Rio Tinto lost 4.3%. Among energy stocks, Royal Dutch Shell fell 4.8%, and BG Group lost 4.7%. The day's biggest faller, however, was South Africa based insurer Old Mutual, which slid 10.6%.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 1.8% to 4,549, and the German Xetra Dax lost 2.4% to 10,340.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.8% to 17,265, the S&P 500 slid 1.9% to 2,012, and the Nasdaq Composite was 2.2% lower at 4,933.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.8% to 18,883, and the broader Topix index lost 1.4% to 1,527. And in China, the CSI 300 rose 2.9% to 3,711, and the Shanghai Composite gained 2.5% to 3,520.

Brent spot was trading at $37.93 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $35.51. Spot gold was trading at $1,067 an ounce, silver was at $13.80 and platinum was at $837.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5149 and against the euro at 1.3830. The dollar was trading at 0.9129 against the euro and 121.22 against the Japanese yen.

And today, the final hurdle in Royal Dutch Shell's £55bn takeover of BG Group was cleared when China's Ministry of Commerce gave the deal the go-ahead. Approval had already been granted by EU competition authorities, as well as those in other countries.