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FTSE 100 poised for lower open, S&P 500 and NASDAQ advance, Asian shares mixed

11th Mar 2010, 7:44 am FTSE 100 poised for lower open, S&P 500 and NASDAQ advance, Asian shares mixed

The FTSE 100 is projected to give away most of yesterday’s 0.7% gain and slide 0.4% in early trade today ahead of US weekly initial jobless claims data due in mid afternoon.

Interdealer broker ICAP (LSE: IAP) emerged atop the leaderabord, advancing 4.5%. Oil and gas engineering firm Petrofac (LSE: PFC) climbed 4.2%, bailed out bank Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) rose 4% and airline British Airways (LSE: BAY) and another part-nationalised bank Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) added slightly more than 3.5%.

British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS) and Schroders (LSE: SDR) were the heaviest fallers among the blue chips with losses of 3% and 2.5% respectively. Tour operator TUI Travel (LSE: TT) and car insurer Admiral Group (LSE: ADM) shed 2% and 1.5% respectively.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat, the broader S&P 500 index rose 0.45% and the technology heavy NASDAQ composite added 0.8% to hit its highest levels in a year.

Asian markets were mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite Index were flat and Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 advanced 1%, while South Korea’s KOSPI declined marginally and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 posted a small loss.

Commodities

Oil prices retreated after posting gains overnight with April Brent Crude sliding to US$80.06/barrel, while US light, sweet crude declined to US$81.64/barrel.

Precious metals were sharply lower as gold fell to US$1,100/oz, while silver and platinum declined to US$16.90/oz and US$1,578/oz respectively.

Base metals followed as copper and nickel dropped to US$3.33/lb and US$9.60/lb and zinc declined to US$1.04/lb.

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