Markets: FTSE100 slides into bear territory

• FTSE 100 down 3.5% to 5,673
• Gold up 1.24% to 1,100.93/oz
• £/$ - 1.4192

FTSE 100

Resource stocks were the biggest fallers. Glencore led the index down with a 9.9% fall, while Anglo American lost 7.7% and BHP Billiton was 7.4% lower. Among energy companies, Royal Dutch Shell slid 7.3%, BG Group lost 4.2%, and BP fell 4.2%.

Two stock were in positive territory, however. Randgold added 3.5%, and Sports Direct gained 2.3%.

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In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 lost 3.4% to 4,124, and the German Xetra Dax fell 1.7% to 9,391.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.6% to 15,766, the S&P 500 lost 1.2% to 1,859, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.1% to 4,471.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 2.4% to 16,017, and the broader Topix index fell 2.8% to 1,301. And in China, the CSI 300 slid 2.9% to 3,081, and the Shanghai Composite fell 3.2% to 2,880.

Brent spot was trading at $27.79 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $28.21. Spot gold was trading at $1,100 an ounce, silver was at $14.11 and platinum was at $813.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4159 and against the euro at 1.2989. The dollar was trading at 0.9173 against the euro and 116.93 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, car production hit a ten-year high in 2015, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and traders. 1.6 million cars were made last year, a 3.9% increase on 2014. Almost 80% of those were exported.