Markets: FTSE 100 continues to fall

• FTSE 100 down 0.7% to 5,871
• Gold down 0.89% to 1,094.20/oz
• £/$ - 1.4543

FTSE 100

Pharmaceuticals firm Shire was the day's worst performer, down 8.2% after announcing it had bought US drugmaker Baxalta for $32bn. Sports Direct lost 7%, while commodities stocks Glencore, Antofagasta and BHP Billiton fell between 5.2% and 2.5%.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.5% to 4,312, and the German Xetra Dax lost 0.2% to 9,825.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 16,398, the S&P 500 added 0.1% to 1,923, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.1% lower at 4,637.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 2.7% to 17,218, and the broader Topix index was 3.1% lower at 1,401. And in China, the CSI 300 rose 0.7% to 3,215, and the Shanghai Composite added 0.2% to 3,022.

Brent spot was trading at $30.79 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $30.58. Spot gold was trading at $1,097 an ounce, silver was at $13.86 and platinum was at $834.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4535 and against the euro at 1.3353. The dollar was trading at 0.9187 against the euro and 117.47 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, there was a little cheer for the embattled supermarket sector today as Morrisons reported a rise in sales. Like-for-like sales rose by 0.2% in the nine weeks to 3 January, the first increase for four years.