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Wall Street falls on Dubai concerns, but FTSE 100 set to extend gains as oil, gold and silver climb

30th Nov 2009, 7:36 am Wall Street falls on Dubai concerns, but FTSE 100 set to extend gains as oil, gold and silver climb

Overview: US stocks fluctuated within a narrow range on Friday, ending the day deep in the red in response to the news from Dubai, whose state owned asset and project management company Dubai World sought to delay debt payments. The news hit the markets on Thursday, causing the FTSE 100 to tumble 3%, while the US stock market was closed due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1.5%, while the broader S&P 500 index tumbled 1.7%, as did the technology heavy Nasdaq composite.

Asian markets were bullish this morning. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 3.3%, while Japan’s Nikkei improved almost 3%. China’s Shanghai composite index also added 3%, recouping half of its last week’s losses.

Oil prices improved as January Brent Crude reached US$77.50/barrel, while US light, sweet crude for January delivery improved to US$76.44/barrel.

Precious metals also rose. Gold rebounded from its most recent fall, climbing back to US$1,173/oz. Silver and platinum followed, reaching US$18.25/oz and US$1,445/oz respectively.

Base metals also rose as copper and nickel climbed to US$3.11/lb and US$7.33/lb respectively and zinc was just short of US$1/lb.

The FTSE 100 is projected to gain 0.5% in early trade today after rising 1% on Friday, recovering after Thursday’s 3% fall on Dubai Jitters. Mining and financial stocks led the FTSE 100 rally on Friday with Royal Bank of Scotland emerging atop the leaderboard with a 5% gain. Base metals focused miners Xstrata (LSE: XTA) also tacked on 5%, while peer Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) was up 3% and platinum producer Lonmin (LSE: LMI) added 3.5%. Tour operator Thomas Cook Group (LSE: TCG), energy company Centrica (LSE: CNE) and commercial property company Segro (LSE: SGRO) also made it to the leaderboard with gains of 4.7%, 3.6% and 3% respectively.

Satellite network operator Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT) and United Utilities (LSE: UU) were the only FTSE 100 constituents to decline 1% or more, sliding 2.5% and 1.2% respectively.

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