Markets: miners lift the FTSE 100

FTSE 100 up 1% to 6,273 Gold up 0.09% to $1,245.34/oz £/$ 1.4442

The FTSE 100 began the week in a positive mood yesterday, adding 1% to close at 6,273.

Miners were once again the main driving force. Anglo American was the day's top performer with a rise of 11.1%. Rio Tinto rose 6.8% and BHP Billiton Glencore and Antofagasta gained between 6.7% and 5.3%.

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In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 rose two points to 4,423 and the German Xetra Dax added 0.2% to 10,121.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to 17,920, the S&P 500 added 0.5% to 2,109, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.5% higher at 4,968.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 and the broader Topix index each gained 0.6% to 16,675 and 1,340 respectively. And in China, the CSI 300 slipped one point to 3,177 and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.1% to 2,936.

Brent spot was trading at $50.58 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $49.72 Spot gold was trading at $1,244 an ounce, silver was at $16.36 and platinum was at $996.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4521 and against the euro at 1.2773. The dollar was trading at 0.8795 against the euro and 107.68 against the Japanese yen.

And today, Royal Dutch Shell says it is looking to make more cost savings as it attempts to deal with the low oil price. It hopes to make $4.5bn of savings after merging with BG, up from earlier forecasts of $3.5bn, and aims to pull out of ten countries, disposing of up to 10% of oil and gas production with asset sales of $30bn.