Markets: FTSE 100 slides

FTSE 100 down 1.8% to 6,053
Gold down 0.3% to $1,254.75/oz
£/$ 1.4611

Resource stocks were among the day's worst performers. Precious metals miner Fresnillo led the index down with a 7.1% fall. Royal Dutch Shell lost 4.9% and Anglo American was 4.4% lower.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% to 17,435, the S&P 500 lost 0.4% to 2,040, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.6% lower at 4,712.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.5% to 16,736 and the broader Topix index added 0.5% to 1,343. And in China, the CSI 300 gained 0.5% to 3,078 and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.6% to 2,957.

Brent spot was trading at $49.16 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $48.58. Spot gold was trading at $1,255 an ounce, silver was at $16.50 and platinum was at $1,016.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4569 and against the euro at 1.2990. The dollar was trading at 0.8916 against the euro and 110.24 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, sales at supermarket Asda have fallen for the seventh quarter in a row. Brett Biggs, the chief financial officer of Asda's parent company, Walmart, said the UK business "continues to struggle, due primarily to fierce competition". Like-for-like sales fell by 5.7% in the 13 weeks to 30 March, with the number of shoppers down by 5%.

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