Markets: FTSE 100 slips back

• FTSE 100 down 0.1% to 6,147
• Gold up 0.6% to $1,239.51/oz
• £/$ 1.4051

FTSE 100

Quality testing group Intertek was the day's biggest faller, sliding 4.6% after posting a loss. Housebuilders were also out of favour, with Berkeley Group down 3.9% and Persimmon and Barratt losing 3.2% and 2.8% respectively.

The day's highest climber was Anglo American, which added 6.7%.

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In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.4% to 4,424, and the German Xetra Dax added 0.6% to 9,776.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 16,899, the S&P 500 added 0.4% to 1,986, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.3% higher at 4,703.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.3% to 16,960, and the broader Topix index gained 1.4% to 1,369. And in China, the CSI 300 added 0.2% to 3,058, and the Shanghai Composite was 0.4% higher at 2,859.

Brent spot was trading at $36.69 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $34.59. Spot gold was trading at $1,241 an ounce, silver was at $14.91 and platinum was at $936.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4065 and against the euro at 1.2942. The dollar was trading at 0.9201 against the euro and 113.87 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, house prices rose by 4.8% in the year to February, according to the latest figures from the Nationwide, up from 4.4% in January. The average price of a property now stands at £196,930.