Markets: commodity stocks drag the FTSE 100 down

published 10 May 2016

FTSE 100 down 0.2% to 6,114
Gold down 1.95% to $1,288.99/oz
£/$ 1.4407

Mining stocks were the biggest drag. Anglo American slid 14% and Glencore fell 9.3%, while Rio Tinto , BHP Billiton and Fresnillo lost between 8% and 6.1%.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.5% to 4,322, and the German Xetra Dax gained 1.1% to 9,980.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2% to 17,705, the S&P 500 added 0.1% to 2,058, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.3% higher at 4,750.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 and the broader Topix index each rose 2.2% to 16,565 and 1,334 respectively. And in China, the CSI 300 added 0.1% to 3,069 and the Shanghai Composite was unchanged at 2,832.

Brent spot was trading at $44.09 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $43.68. Spot gold was trading at $1,267 an ounce, silver was at $17.04 and platinum was at $1,046.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4424 and against the euro at 1.2661. The dollar was trading at 0.8777 against the euro and 108.90 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, EasyJet reported a loss of £24m for the first half of the year, compared with a profit of £7m for the same period last year, despite a rise passengers. Sales rose by 0.3% to £1.77bn, and passenger numbers rose from 28.9 milli0on to 31 million. The company blamed the loss on the "softening of the pound against the euro".