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FTSE 100 rises ahead of US employment, home sales and consumer confidence data

Last updated: 22:14 24 Nov 2010 AEDT, First published: 23:14 24 Nov 2010 AEDT

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The FTSE 100 advanced 0.6% in the morning, which was in line with pre-trade projections.

Quality and safety services company Intertek (LON:ITRK) led the FTSE 100 with a 5.5% advance.

Caterer Compass Group (LON:CPG) followed, tacking on 3.3% after releasing its final results for the year to 30 September. The company’s revenues rose 7.6% to £14.5 billion.

Fashion house Burberry (LON:BRBY) and outsourcer Capita Group (LON:CPI) added just over 2%.

Essar Energy (LON:ESSR), credit information group Experian (LON:EXPN) and mining major Xstrata (LON:XTA) rose 2%.

Capital Shopping Centres Group (LON:CSCG) was at the bottom of the pile with a 2.1% loss after confirming that it is in advanced discussions with the Peel Group over the potential acquisition by CSC of 100% of the Trafford Centre.

Bank Barclays (LON:BARC), insurer Aviva (LON:AV) and defence and aerospace systems manufacturer BAE Systems (LON:BA) shed 1.5%.

Another insurer Prudential (LON:PRU) lost 1%.

US stocks plunged into the red yesterday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) sliding 1.3%. The S&P 500 index and the technology heavy NASDAQ composite lost 1.4%.

Futures for DJIA and S&P 500 rose 0.3% in pre-trade, pointing to a higher open on Wall Street today.

Investors in the US will have plenty of data to digest today before tomorrow’s break for the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Yesterday’s GDP data was positive with the Commerce Department revising Q3 growth to an annualised 2.5% from 2%, however, the Federal Reserve then said that unemployment will remain high for the next few years and will stand at around 9% next year.

On top of that, existing home sales were shown to have declined 2.2% month on month in October.

Today’s data will include jobless claims, durable goods orders, personal consumption, income and spending, mortgage applications and the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.

Asian markets were mixed today. China’s Shanghai Composite Index advanced 1.1% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.6%, while South Korea’s KOSPI was down 0.15% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.85%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.1%.

Commodities

US light, sweet crude for January delivery climbed to US$81.67/barrel, while January Brent Crude reached US$83.65/barrel.

Gold and silver retreated, falling to US$1,375/oz and US$27.43/oz respectively. Platinum advanced to US$1,659/oz.

Base metals rose with copper and nickel climbing to US$3.72/lb and US$9.82/lb, while zinc advanced to US$0.951/lb.

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