Markets rise overnight as gold bounce continues

Markets across the US closed up overnight as the more optimistic mood prevailed, while gold continued to recover from its recent savage fall.

The Dow Jones closed up 0.2% at 14,700 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.4% to close at 1,585. In Asia it was more mixed, with the Nikkei 225 off 0.5% at 13,856, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng was up 0.8% at 22,581. The moves overnight followed a positive day for the FTSE 100 which closed up marginally by 0.2% at 6,442. The UK's main index was boosted by positive results from groups such as Standard Life, which helped the index edge higher. Elsewhere, in the commodities markets gold continued its recovery from the recent sell-off, the precious metal rising $7 or 0.5% at $1,474.