Markets: FTSE 100 continues to rise

FTSE 100 up 0.6% to 6,261
Gold down 0.15% to $1,266/oz
£/$ 1.4707

Financial stocks were once again among the best performing stocks. Hargreaves Lansdown led the index up with a 4.1% gain, Old Mutual added 3%, and Provident Financial, Standard Life and St James's Place rose between 2.9% and 2.4%.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% to 17,780, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 2,085, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.2% lower at 4,833.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 and the broader Topix index each rose 1.1% to 16,238 and 1,298 respectively. And in China, the CSI 300 fell 0.5% to 3,117 and the Shanghai Composite lost 0.5% to 2,891.

Brent spot was trading at $50.09 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $49.31. Spot gold was trading at $1,269 an ounce, silver was at $17.38 and platinum was at $976.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4768 and against the euro at 1.3045. The dollar was trading at 0.8833 against the euro and 104.48 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, retailer Tesco reported a rise in sales for the second quarter in a row. Like-for-like sales in the UK rose by 0.3% in the 13 weeks to 28 May. Sales for the group as a whole rose by 0.9%.