Overview: the FTSE 100 is projected to open 20 points, or 0.4% lower today after a late slide hit the US market on Friday after an early rally following better than expected November unemployment update from the Labor Department.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day with just a 0.2% gain after rising more than 1% and clearing the 10,500 point mark after the US unemployment rate fell to 10% as employers cut the fewest jobs in November since the inception of the economic downturn.
The broader S&P 500 index rose 0.5%, while the technology heavy Nasdaq composite added nearly 1%.
Asian markets were mixed. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index advanced 1.5% as the yen weakened, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.3% and China’s Shanghai composite index added 0.3%.
Commodities
Oil prices inched slightly higher after falling on a strong US dollar after the US currency got a boost from the jobless report.
January Brent Crude returned to US$77.84/barrel, while US light, sweet crude rose to US$75.66/barrel.
Precious metals declined as gold was down to US$1,156/oz, while silver and platinum fell to US$18.25/oz and US$1,434/oz respectively.
Base metals were headed in different directions as while copper and zinc fell to US$3.17/lb and US$1.06/lb respectively, nickel improved to US$7.28/lb.
The UK blue chip index closed 0.2% higher on Monday with airline British Airways (LSE: BAY), pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) and software developer Sage Group (LSE: SGE) emerging as the top three risers with gains of over 2%. Other notable risers included another pharmaceutical stock GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) and beverage group SABMiller (LSE: SAB), which also added more than 2%, as well as credit information group Experian (LSE: EXPN), defence contractor Cobham (LSE: COB), oil and gas company Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE), mobile satellite company Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT) and heating and plumbing equipment manufacturer Wolseley (LSE: WOS), which all tacked on more than 1.5%.
Notable fallers included gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) with a 4.3% loss and bank Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN), which fell 3.5%, as did base metals focused miner Xstrata (LSE: XTA).