Markets: interest rate cut boosts FTSE 100

The FTSE 100 saw a sharp rise yesterday after the Bank of England cut interest rates to 0.25% and extended its quantitative easing programme. The index closed up 1.6% at 6,740.

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  • FTSE 100 up 1.6% to 6,740
  • Gold up 0.22% to $1,361.15/oz
  • £/$ 1.3107

FTSE 100

Financial stocks were among the top performers. Aviva was the day's highest climber with a 6.9% rise, while Standard Chartered added 5.2% and Old Mutual gained 3.4%

The FTSE 250 rose 1.5% to 17,244, and the FTSE All-Share index gained 1.5% to 3,659.

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In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 added 0.6% to 4,345 and the German Xetra Dax rose 0.6% to 10,227.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped three points to 18,352, the S&P 500 added one point to 2,164, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.1% higher at 5,166.

Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 was unchanged at 16,254 and the broader Topix index slipped 0.2% to 1,279. And in China, the CSI 300 rose 0.1% to 3,205 and the Shanghai Composite was 0.2% lower at 2,976.

Brent spot was trading at $43.97 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $41.67. Spot gold was trading at $1,363 an ounce, silver was at $20.35 and platinum was at $1,162.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.3125 and against the euro at 1.1787. The dollar was trading at 0.8980 against the euro and 101.11 against the Japanese yen.

And today, bookmaker William Hill reported better than expected results despite a "challenging" start to the year. Revenue rose by 1% to £814m in the 26 weeks to 28 June, with pre-tax profits up by 23% to £100.7m. The company issued a profit warning in March.

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