Markets remain volatile as FTSE 100 bounces back

published 29 June 2016

FTSE 100 up 2.6% to 6,140
Gold down 0.97% to $1,311.79/oz
£/$ 1.3344

Financial stocks were among the day's top performers. Hargreaves Lansdown led the index up with a gain of 8.9%, while Legal & General and Prudential added 7.9% and 7.7% respectively, and Lloyds Banking Group rose 7.4%.

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 rose 1.5% to 4,088 and the German Xetra Dax added 1.9% to 9,447.

In the US yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.6% to 17,409, the S&P 500 added 1.8% to 2,036, and the Nasdaq Composite was 2.1% higher at 4,691.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.6% to 15,566 and the broader Topix index added 1.9% to 1,247. And in China, the CSI 300 gained 0.5% to 3,151 and the Shanghai Composite added 0.7% to 2,931.

Brent spot was trading at $48.42 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $49.11. Spot gold was trading at $1,322 an ounce, silver was at $18.21 and platinum was at $988.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.3398 and against the euro at 1.2088. The dollar was trading at 0.9022 against the euro and 102.39 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK today, house prices rose by 0.2% in June, according to the latest figures from Nationwide. Annual growth rose to 5.1%, up from 4.7% in May, with the average price of a home now standing at £204,968.

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin.

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.