World markets report

Dec 14, 2009

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On Friday the FTSE 100 index rose 0.3% to close at 5,262. Miners were firm, offsetting weakness in banks and energy stocks. Kazakhyms, Lonmin, Vedanta, Xstrata, Antofagasta, Fresnillo and BHP Billiton all saw rises between 1.4% and 3%. Some defensive shares also did well, with drug makers AstraZeneca up 1% and GlaxoSmithKline rising 0.4%, while cigarette makers Imperial Tobacco and BAT were both up 1%.

The latest stock market news and charts.

Europe

The Paris CAC 40 rose 5 points to 3,803 and the German Xetra Dax was 47 points higher at 5,756. 

US

Stocks broadly ended up, too. The Dow Jones rose 0.6% to 10,472; the S&P 500 added 0.4% to 1,106; but the Nasdaq Composite was flat at 2,190.

Asia

The Nikkei 225 was almost unchanged at 10,106; and the broader Topix index dropped 0.4% to close at 885. In China, the Shanghai Composite index climbed 1.7% to 3,303; and the CSI 300 added 1.1% to 3,613.

Commodities

Brent spot was trading at $71.34 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $72.04. Spot gold was trading at $1,124 an ounce, silver was at $17.28 and platinum was at $1,431.

Currencies

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.6222 and against the euro at 1.106. The dollar was trading at 0.6820 against the euro and 88.64 against the Japanese yen.

UK news

This morning, investors were encouraged by news that Dubai has been given a $10bn bailout from neighbour Abu Dhabi. This will enable Dubai to repay its immediate debt obligations.

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