Markets: financial stocks lift FTSE 100

FTSE 100 up 1.7% to 6,139
Gold down 1.69% to $1,250.70/oz
£/$ 1.4382

FTSE 100

Financial stocks were the day's best performers. Insurer Aviva led the market up with a 6.2% rise. Wealth manager St James's Place rose 4.8%, Hargreaves Lansdown added 4.4%, and Standard Chartered was 4.3% higher.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 rose 3.3% to 4,492, and the German Xetra Dax added 3.5% to 9,831.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3% to 17,213, the S&P 500 gained 1.6% to 2,022, and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.9% higher at 4,748.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.7% to 17,233, and the broader Topix index rose 1.5% to 1,379. And in China, the CSI 300 added 1.6% to 3,065, and the Shanghai Composite was 1.8% higher at 2,859.

Brent spot was trading at $40.10 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $38.14. Spot gold was trading at $1,256 an ounce, silver was at $15.63 and platinum was at $969.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4359 and against the euro at 1.2914. The dollar was trading at 0.8993 against the euro and 113.72 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, Royal Bank of Scotland is to sack 550 staff as it replaces financial advisers with "robo-advisers" in a bid to cut costs. "The demand for face-to-face investment advice is changing", said a spokesperson. "Our customers increasingly want to bank with us using digital technology."

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