The FTSE 100 is projected to start with a 0.2% gain today after surging 1.1% on Tuesday.
Oil and gas producer Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) emerged atop the leaderboard with a 4% gain. Construction equipment manufacturer Wolseley (LON:WOS) advanced 3.8%, while copper miner Kazakhmys (LON:KAZ) and another oil and gas company BG Group (LON:BG) tacked on about 3.5%. Mining majors Xstrata (LON:XTA) and Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) climbed 3.2%. Engineering company Weir Group (LON:WEIR) and oil and gas supermajor Shell (LON:RDSB) added 2.9% and 2.4% respectively.
Business services group Serco (LON:SRP) was at the bottom of the pile with a 3.7% loss. Part-nationalised bank Lloyds (LON:LLOY) declined 3.2%. Temporary power provider Aggreko (LON:AGK) lost about 1.5%. Outsourcing group Capita (LON:CPI) and chipmaker ARM Holdings (LON:ARM) were down 1.2%.
US stocks were on the rise yesterday. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes climbed 0.6% and 0.8% respectively. The technology heavy NASDAQ composite rallied 1.15%.
Markets in Asia and Australia were in buying mode today. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1.85%, South Korea’s KOSPI added 0.95%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.15% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.45%.
Commodities
Oil prices moved higher. US light, sweet crude for December delivery climbed to US$84.25/barrel, while December Brent Crude reached US$85.72/barrel.
Precious metals retreated. Gold and silver declined to US$1,354/oz and US$24.81/oz respectively. Platinum held steady at US$1,709/oz.
Copper and zinc stood at US$3.82/lb and US$1.097/lb. Nickel advanced to US$10.67/lb.
The Federal Reserve will announce its decision on interest rates today. Investors are also expecting the Fed to unveil a new round of quantitative easing.
Updates on US factory orders and the ISM non-manufacturing index will be out today.