World markets report

Dec 22, 2009

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The FTSE 100 closed up 1.9% yesterday at 5,294, with banks and commodity stocks again to the fore.

Top performer of the day was Cairn Energy, which added 4.7% after news that it will begin drilling off Greenland in the next year or two. Heavyweights BP and Royal Dutch Shell added 2.5% and 2.6% respectively, while BG Group lagged with a rise of 1.7%.

Miners were boosted by higher metals prices - Xstrata rose 3.4%, Lonmin 2.5% and Rio Tinto 2.2%.

Banks also had a good day as HSBC and Barclays both added 3.3% and Lloyds rose 1.1%. But RBS was one of the only three fallers in the index, down 0.07%.

Read the latest stock market news and charts here.

Europe

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 rose 77 points to 3,872; and the German Xetra Dax was 99 points higher at 5,931.

US

In the US, the Dow Jones climbed 0.8% to 10,414; the S&P 500 gained 1% to 1,114; and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.2% higher at 2,237.

Asia

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.9% to 10,378 - its highest since late September - while the broader Topix index added 1.3% to close at 903. In China, the Shanghai Composite index fell 2.3% to 3,050; and the CSI 300 closed down 2.7% at 3,305.

Commodities

Brent spot was trading at $72.60 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $73.98. Spot gold was trading at $1,096 an ounce, silver was at $17.05 and platinum was at $1,419

Currencies

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.607 and against the euro at 1.1219. The dollar was trading at 0.6984 against the euro and 91.31 against the Japanese yen.

UK news

And today, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said it believes Britain's house prices will see a modest rise in 2010. Their prediction says prices will be 1%-2% higher by the end of the year, compared with 3.5% this year. RICS chief economist, Simon Rubinsohn, said: "The imbalance between supply and demand will continue into the early part of the new year resulting in some further house price gains."

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