Mining stocks performed strongly this morning following yesterday’s surge in US and Asian markets, driving the FTSE 100 up 30 points (0.5 percent) to 5,962. Traders are looking to Friday’s closely watched US non-farm payrolls report and Thursday’s US jobless claims data. Today’s ADP employment report will also serve as an indicator of the strength of the job market in the US and the economic recovery.
Mining major Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) led the blue chips, rallying 5 percent. Sector peers BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) followed, climbing 3 percent and 2 percent respectively.
Retailers were hit by today’s profit warning from Dixons Retail (LON:DXNS). The FTSE 250 constituent said that consumer confidence has deteriorated since its last update in January, particularly in the UK and Ireland.
“Consumer confidence across some of our markets is fragile and we expect it to continue to be so through much of 2011,” said chief executive John Browett.
Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS) was the heaviest faller in the FTSE 100 with a 2.5 percent loss. Peer Next (LON:NXT) dropped 1.5 percent.
A positive start is expected on Wall Street with the financial bookmakers expecting the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the broader S&P 500 index to rose 0.3 percent, while the technology heavy NASDAQ composite is projected to climb 0.6 percent.
Shares NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX) rose 1.8 percent in pre-market. Ford (NYSE:F), Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), Merck (NYSE:MRK) and United States Steel Corp (NYSE:X) rose 1 percent.
The Conference Board said on Tuesday that its consumer confidence index declined from 72.0 in February to 63.4 in March.
In other news, Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 249 points (2.6 percent), reaching its highest level since the country got his by a disastrous earthquake on March 11, which caused a tsunami and damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The stocks were boosted by a weaker yen and expectations that Hitachi and Nissan will soon resume production at its factories in Japan.