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FTSE 100 seen lower ahead of US jobless claims data

Published: 16:21 16 Sep 2010 AEST

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The FTSE 100 is seen 0.2% lower today after shedding as much on Wednesday after UK jobless claims were shown to have risen in August.

Clothing retailer Next (LON:NXT) emerged atop the leaderboard with a gain of nearly 7%. Retailers Kingfisher (LON:KGF) and Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS) followed, climbing 3.4%. Beverage group SABMiller (LON:SAB) added just over 2% and defence and aerospace systems manufacturer BAE Systems (LON:BA) rose 2%.

Gold miner African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) was at the bottom of the pile with a 3.2% loss. Oil and gas supermajor BP (LON:BP) and banking group Barclays (LON:BARC) dropped 2.7% and 2.2% respectively. Miner Eurasian Natural Resources (LON:ENRC) and platinum producer Lonmin (LON:LMI) shed nearly 2%.

US stocks were on the rise yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.45%, while the broader S&P 500 index added 0.35% and the technology heavy NASDAQ composite rose 0.5%.

Asian markets were in selling mode today. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.45%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index slipped 2.2%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.1%, South Korea’s KOSPI slid 0.55% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.2%.

Commodities

Oil prices moved lower. October Brent Crude slid to US$78.68/barrel, while US light, sweet crude for October delivery fell to US$75.01/barrel.

Gold retreated to US$1,264/oz after setting new record highs at US$1,274/oz. Other precious metals followed with silver and platinum sliding to US$20.48/oz and US$1,593/oz respectively.

Base metals also moved lower. Copper and nickel dropped to US$3.42/lb and US$10.43/lb, while zinc declined to US$0.957/lb.

UK retail sales and US weekly jobless claims updates are due out today.

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