The wreck of a Spanish ship laden with treasure that was sunk by the British more than 300 years ago has been found off the Colombian coast, says President Juan Manuel Santos.

"Great news! We have found the San Jose galleon," the president tweeted.

The wreck was discovered near the port city of Cartagena.

It has been described as the holy grail of shipwrecks, as the ship was carrying one of the largest amounts of valuables ever to have been lost at sea.

Mr Santos said the cargo was worth at least $1bn (£662m).

The San Jose was carrying gold, silver, gems and jewellery collected in the South American colonies to be shipped to Spain's king to help finance his war of succession against the British when it was sunk...

TODAY'S MARKET IDEAS: Yesterday's bounce off of new contract lows followed by additional strength overnight has managed to put February gold just into its consolidation range of the past two weeks. Initial resistance in February gold comes in at $1,075 and then $1,080. We will see if short-covering is diminished with the start of the new month and whether the market resumes its downside pattern. For the moment, there seems to be caution with the approach of Friday's jobs report. March silver should find decent near-term support around the $13.93 area, with resistance at $14.375. The next downside target for January platinum is at $820.