The FTSE 100 is expected to decline 0.5% in early trade after climbing 0.5% on Tuesday.
Oil and gas supermajor BP (LON:BP) led the FTSE 100 with a 3.2% gain.
Government services group Serco (LON:SRP) and defence and aerospace systems manufacturer BAE Systems (LON:BA) advanced 2.1%.
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) and private equity group 3i (LON:III) added nearly 2%.
Hospitality group Whitbread (LON:WTB) was at the bottom of the pile with a 2.8% loss.
Financial Times publisher Pearson (LON:PSON) and car insurer Admiral Group (LON:ADM) lost 1.8% and 1.3% respectively.
US stocks were on the rise yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.4%, while the S&P 500 index and the NASDAQ composite rose 0.1%.
In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.35%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.4%, while South Korea’s KOSPI added 0.4% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 held steady.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was little moved.
Commodities
Oil prices moved lower.
US light, sweet crude for January delivery fell to US$87.64/barrel.
Precious metals declined. Gold retreated to US$1,389/oz. Silver and platinum dropped to US$29.14/oz and US$1,695/oz respectively.
Base metals followed. Copper and nickel fell to US$4.14/lb and US$10.95/lb. Zinc stood at US$1.031/lb.
Today’s data will include US mortgage applications and industrial production as well as updates on the US consumer price index and the Empire State manufacturing index.
Domestic data due to be released today includes UK unemployment rate and claimant count.