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FTSE 100 poised for lower open as oil, gold, silver, copper and nickel fall

22nd Jul 2010, 7:47 am FTSE 100 poised for lower open as oil, gold, silver, copper and nickel fall

The FTSE 100 is projected to slide 0.7% in early trade following a late sell-off on Wall Street, which came after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the economic outlook was “unusually uncertain.”

Copper miner Kazakhmys (LON:KAZ) led the blue chips with a 7% gain. Peers Antofagasta (LON:ANTO), Xstrata (LON:XTA) and Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) advanced 4.8%, 4.1% and 3.6% respectively. Airline British Airways (LON:BAY) climbed 5.4%. Specialist banking group Investec (LON:INVP) and engineering firm Invensys (LON:ISYS) added 4%. Consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser (LON:RB), insurer Legal & General (LON:LGEN) and temporary power provider Aggreko (LON:AGK) rose 3.4%.

Telecom company Cable & Wireless Worldwide (LON:CW) was the heaviest faller with a loss of nearly 5%. Medical devices manufacturer Smith & Nephew (LON:SN) declined 4.5%. Imperial Tobacco Group (LON:IMT) slid 2%, while interdealer broker ICAP (LON:IAP) and outsourcing company Capita Group (LON:CPI) shed 1.1%.

US stocks closed with losses yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.1%, the broader S&P 500 index slipped 1.3% and the technology heavy NASDAQ composite tumbled 1.6%.

Asian markets were in selling mode today. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.2%, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.6%, South Korea’s KOSPI and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 retreated 0.75%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index went against the tide, rising 1%.

Commodities

Oil prices declined with September Brent Crude sliding to US$76.29/barrel, while US light, sweet crude for September delivery moved down to US$75.09/barrel.

Precious metals retreated. Gold declined to US$1,181/oz, while silver and platinum moved down to US$17.62/oz and US$1,503/oz respectively.

Base metals followed. Copper and nickel retreated to US$3.06/lb and US$8.74/lb, while zinc slid to US$0.84/lb.

UK retail sales figures are due out today.

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