Markets: commodity stocks weigh on the FTSE 100

FTSE 100 down 0.8% to 6,260
Gold up 0.4% to $1,237.97/oz
£/$ 1.4482

FTSE 100

Commodity stocks were the biggest drag on the index. Anglo American was the day's worst performer with a 7.2 %slide, while BHP Billiton lost 5.8% and Glencore was 4.2% lower. Among energy stocks, Royal Dutch Shell lost 3.5% and BP was 2.7% lower.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.5% to 4,546, and the German Xetra Dax lost 0.8% to 10,294.

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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each slipped 0.2% to 17,977 and 2,087 respectively, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.2% lower at 4,895.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.5% to 17,353 and the broader Topix index lost 0.7% to 1,391. And in China, the CSI 300 gained 0.5% to 3,179, and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.6% to 2,964.

Brent spot was trading at $44.77 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $42.87. Spot gold was trading at $1,235 an ounce, silver was at $16.95 and platinum was at $1,012.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4538 and against the euro at 1.2900. The dollar was trading at 0.8873 against the euro and 110.81 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, Scottish Power has been hit with an £18m charge by Ofgem, the energy regulator, because it failed to treat its customers fairly, Ofgem said. Call handling complaint resolution and billing were "inadequate", resulting in over a million complaints between June 2013 and December 2015. £15m will go to "vulnerable" Scottish power customers, and the rest to charity.

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