World markets report

The FTSE 100 gained 0.7% yesterday, with miners the strongest sector, boosted by a record gold price and news that China's factory output has increased. Gold miners Randgold Resources and Fresnillo were the index's two top performers, climbing 6.1% and 5.9% respectively.

Insurers were also to the fore; Legal & General gained 5.5%, Aviva added 3% and Old Mutual rose 2.9%. Banks had a less impressive day, with stocks mixed - Lloyds registered a 5% gain, but RBS fell 1.9%.

Energy stocks were also mixed. BP was among the day's worst performers, losing 1.7%, while Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group both made modest gains.

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Europe

In Europe, the Paris CAC added 28 points to 3,814; while the German Xetra Dax was 55 points higher at 5,668.

US

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% to 10,291; the S&P 500 added 0.5% to 1,098; and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7% to 2,166.

Asia

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.7% to close at 9,804; while the broader Topix index lost 0.5% to close at 867. In China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.1% to 3,172; and the CSI 300 lost 0.1% to 3,499.

Commodities

Brent spot was trading at $77.82 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $79.27. Spot gold was trading at $1,118 an ounce; silver was at $17.56 and platinum was at $1,367.

Currencies

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.656 and against the euro at 1.106. The dollar was trading at 0.668 against the euro and 89.77 against the Japanese yen.

UK news

And today, BT Group announced a 45% fall in profits for the first half of this year. Pre-tax profits in the six months to 30 September were £547m. The group, which is already committed to cutting £1bn in costs and 15,000 jobs this year, said it will raise its cost-cutting target to £1.5bn. Chief executive Ian Livingston said: "We have had another quarter of progress, but there remains a lot more to do"