The FTSE 100 is seen flat today after adding a further 0.6% on Wednesday to extend its winning streak to three days and come within sight of the 5,300 mark as strong corporate earnings and positive economic data boosted sentiment.
Investors had to digest mixed economic data that came out in the UK, showing that unemployment declined by 3,000 to 2.46 million in the three months to December, while the unemployment rate stayed at 7.8%. However, the positive impact from the update was partly offset by an increase in jobless claims of 23,500 for the month of January, while a decline was expected.
In other news, minutes from a meeting of Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee showed that the committee members voted unanimously to halt the £200 billion quantitative easing programme and keep the interest rates at 0.5%.
Hedge fund manager Man Group (LSE: EMG) and plumbing and heating equipment manufacturer Wolseley (LSE: WOS) were atop the leaderboard with gains of about 5%, while miner ENRC (LSE: ENRC) followed with a 4% climb.
Scottish and Southern Energy (LSE: SSE) and BP (LSE: BP) were the heaviest fallers with losses of 3%. Packaging group Rexam (LSE: REX) shed lamost 2%.
US stocks also finished higher yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the broader S&P 500 index closed 0.4% above the opening level, while the technology heavy NASDAQ composite added 0.55%.
Asian markets didn't show much movement and were mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.25%, South Korea’s KOSPI declined 0.4% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.3%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 performed better, climbing 0.3%.
Chinese stock market was still closed for the Lunar New Year.
Commodities
Oil prices retreated as April Brent Crude slid to US$75.78/barrel and US light, sweet crude dropped to US$76.80/barrel.
Precious metals also declined with gold slipping back to US$1,100/oz, while silver and platinum moved down to US$15.74/oz and US$1,509/oz respectively.
Base metals followed with copper and nickel sliding to US$3.21/lb and US$8.98/lb, while zinc retreated to US$1.02/lb.