Markets: FTSE100 slides further

published 3 February 2016

FTSE 100 down 2.3% to 5,922
Gold up 0.06% to $1,129.07/oz
£/$ 1.4410

FTSE 100

Commodity and financial stocks were the worst performers. BP led the market down with a 8.7% fall, while Anglo American lost 8% and BHP Billiton was 7% lower. Among financials, Prudential slid 8.3%, Legal & General lost 6.7% and Standard Chartered fell 5.9%.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 2.5% to 4,283, and the German Xetra Dax lost 1.8% to 9,581.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 1.8% to 16,153, the S&P 500 lost 1.9% to 1,903, and the Nasdaq Composite was 2.2% lower at 4,516.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 slid 3.2% to 17,191, and the broader Topix index lost 3.2% to 1,406. And in China, the CSI 300 slipped 0.4% to 2,948, and the Shanghai Composite fell 0.4% to 2,739.

Brent spot was trading at $32.90 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $30.15. Spot gold was trading at $1,126 an ounce, silver was at $14.33 and platinum was at $860.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4394 and against the euro at 1.3192. The dollar was trading at 0.9165 against the euro and 119.95 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, the economy is expected to grow by 2.3% in 2016 and 2.7% in 2017, according to the latest estimates by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. Growth in 2015 was 2.2%.