Markets: miners drive the FTSE 100 up

• FTSE 100 up 0.8% to 6,405
• Gold up 1.44% to $1,250.19/oz
• £/$ 1.4398

FTSE 100

Miners were once again the driving force. Anglo American led the index up with a 8.5% rise, while Antofagasta added 7.8% and Glencore gained 7.7%.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 rose 1.3% to 4,566, and the German Xetra Dax gained 2.3% to 10,349.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 18,053, the S&P 500 added 0.3% to 2,100, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.4% lower at 4,940.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 and the broader Topix index each gained 0.2% to 16,906 and 1,365 respectively. And in China, the CSI 300 lost 1.8% to 3,181, and the Shanghai Composite slid 2.3% to 2,972.

Brent spot was trading at $43.11 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $40.11. Spot gold was trading at $1,248 an ounce, silver was at $16.88 and platinum was at $1,008.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4373 and against the euro at 1.2657. The dollar was trading at 0.8806 against the euro and 108.82 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, Metro Bank, one of the new "challenger" banks a "move towards profitability" as losses narrowed to £7.9m in the first quarter of the year, up from £8.5m in the same quarter last year. Loans rose by 12$ year on year to £4.1bn, and deposits grew by 75% to £5.9bn.