• FTSE 100 finishes 24 points lower
• Dow Jones rallies to be almost flat after US PMI data
• UK composite PMI hit 24-month low but expectations improve

4.40pm: FTSE in the red

At the close of trading Tuesday, the FTSE 100 had fallen 24 points to 7,757 for a 0.4% loss on the day.

Markets across Europe experienced a bit of a pullback after some mixed flash PMI numbers painted a patchy outlook for certain parts of the economy in the UK and Europe, CMC’s Michael Hewson noted.

“In Germany services pushed into expansion territory, while France disappointed. Manufacturing on the other hand was weak in Germany, while it rebounded in France, whereas in the UK manufacturing showed a modest improvement, while services disappointed,” Hewson said.

3.55pm: Premium bonds boosted

National Savings and Investments (NS&I) has said it will increase the Premium Bonds prize fund rate to 3.15% from the next prize draw in February.

The latest increase takes the fund rate to a 14-year high and comes after NS&I added £80 million to its prize fund last month.

Notably, there are three more prizes of £100,000 and six more prizes at £50,000. Meanwhile, there will be over 121,000 more £50 and £100 prizes each to be won. 

Despite this rate rise, the odds of winning some sort of prize remain unchanged at 24,000 to one. This is partly due to fewer £25 winnings on offer, with NS&I set to cull these prizes by nearly 242,000 next month.

3.15pm: US flash PMI touch better than…