Overview: the FTSE 100 is projected to open slightly higher and eclipse the 5,300 point mark on Monday after a strong day of trading on Wall Street on Friday, where all key indices rose on upbeat economic updates and earnings and despite an unexpected decline in the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.
Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS) was among the leaders after releasing strong Q4 results, while Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (NYSE: GT) made its way to the top after Goldman Sachs upgraded it to “buy.” US retail chains further strengthened the sentiment by releasing good quarterly reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7%, while the broader S&P 500 index rose 0.6% and the technology heavy Nasdaq composite improved 0.9%.
Asian markets also rose on Monday as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 1.5%, while Japan’s Nikkei inched 0.1% higher and China’s Shanghai composite index added 2.7% to reach three month closing high.
Commodities were stronger following the bullish day in the US.
Oil prices rose with December Brent Crude reaching US$77.20/barrel, while US light, sweet crude for December delivery improving to US$77.40/barrel.
Precious metals followed as gold reached its new all time high at US$1,129/oz and silver climbed to US$17.66/oz. Platinum reached US$1,403/oz.
Base metals fell into the same pattern with copper breaking through US$3/lb, nickel reaching US$7.50/lb, while zinc was just short of US$1/lb.
The UK blue chip index is set to extend Friday’s gains, when it climbed 0.4% and stopped just short of 5,300. Commercial property companies were resilient with Liberty International (LSE: LII), British Land (LSE: BLND), Hammerson (LSE: HMSO) and Land Securities Group (LSE: LAND) all making it to the leaderboard with gains of over 2%. Some financial stocks also were on the rise with insurers Prudential (LSE: PRU) and Old Mutual (LSE: OML) adding 2.1%.
Insurance focused investor Resolution (LSE: RSL), which has recently taken Friends Provident’s place in the FTSE 100, emerged as the leading faller with a 3.6% slide. Interdealer money broker ICAP (LSE: IAP), base metals focused miner Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC), energy services firm Amec (LSE: AMEC) and another miner Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) followed with losses of 2.5%. Software developer Autonomy Corporation (LSE: AU) and packaging group Rexam (LSE: REX) also were in decline, shedding over 1.5%.
Commodity focused stocks are likely to rise today due to the increases in oil and metal prices.