MARKETS: (DATA COMPILED BY THE OUTSOURCED MARKETING DEPARTMENT)

September brought a renewal of investor confidence in global equity markets, as most of the major UK indices covered here saw gains. Whilst gaining 1.74% over the month, the FTSE100 did, however, see some volatility, dipping to an intra-month low of 6,665.6, before recovering to end at 6,899.3 up 117.8 points. The wider FTSE250 fared less well adding 0.78% or 138.6 points,to close at 17,871.4, whilst the junior AIM market surpassed that, rising just over 27 points to 819.1 for an improvement of 3.51%.

The American markets remained becalmed, as the Dow Jones slipped by 0.5%, to end the month at 18,308.15 with the technology-based Nasdaq improving to 5,312.0 for a 1.89% rise.
The continuing political machinations in Europe saw the Eurostoxx50 lose a marginal 0.69% to record a closing level of 3,002.24 and over in Japan, still suffering from continued deflation and economic stagnation, the Nikkei225 reversed August improvements to lose 2.59% to end September at 16,449.84.

The foreign exchange markets saw Sterling continue to drift lower against the US Dollar to $1.29 a 2.27% decline over the month and to €1.15 against the Euro, again a fall of 2.54%. Meanwhile, the US Dollar slipped by just under 1% against the Euro, finishing September at $1.12.
In the energy markets Oil, as measured by the Brent Crude benchmark, also had a volatile month, but did see the price improve a little to $49.06 a barrel, for a gain of 4.29%. It is now showing a 31.6% rise in price since the turn of the year.

Gold, often regarded as a safe-haven investment, clawed back some of its August losses to end September at $1,315.93 a troy ounce to record a 0.54% increase in value.

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