The FTSE 100 made little headway this morning, held back by losses in the mining sector.
Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) emerged atop the leaderboard in the morning. The oil & gas major advanced 2 percent after UBS (NYSE:UBS) upgraded the stock from “neutral” to “buy”, highlighting Cairn’s planned exploration activities in Greenland.
Base metals slipped today on speculation that China could soon go for further monetary policy tightening to combat rising inflation and prevent the economy from overheating. In addition to that, traders are still worried about the impact the unrest in the Middle East-North Africa region and the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan will have on the markets and on demand for raw materials.
As a result, mining stocks were among the heaviest fallers this morning. Kazakhmys (LON:KAZ) led the retreat, shedding just over 2.1 percent. Fresnillo (LON:FRES), Xstrata (LON:XTA) and Anglo American (LON:AAL) lost more than 1 percent. Platinum miner Lonmin (LON:LMI) followed, dropping 1.2 percent.
Elsewhere in Europe, Germany’s DAX declined 10.5 points (0.15 percent) to 6,935 and France’s CAC 40 rose marginally.
More negative developments have occurred in Japan’s nuclear crisis. Potentially fatal levels of radiation have been detected around the Fukushima plant. Meanwhile, rescue workers are trying to remove radioactive water from reactor buildings, which stands in the way of the ongoing clean-up operations.
The country’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index declined 57.5 points (0.6%) today, falling to 9,478.
Financial bookmakers are expecting a positive start on Wall Street today. Futures for the technology heavy NASDAQ composite rose 7.5 points (0.3 percent) in the morning, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the S&P 500 index rose marginally.
Shares in Nvidia (NYSE:NVDA) climbed 2.5 percent in pre-market trade. Bristol Myers (NYSE:BMY) and Freeport Mcmoran Copper and Gold (NYSE:FCX) added just over 1 percent.
Marriott Intl (NYSE:MAR) slid 11 percent. Boeing (NYSE:BA) followed, dropping 7.5 percent.
Today’s US data will include personal spending and the Dallas Fed manufacturing activity index.