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FTSE 100 seen lower after fall on Wall Street, Copper and Nickel slide

24th Sep 2009, 8:13 am FTSE 100 seen lower after fall on Wall Street, Copper and Nickel slide

Overview: yesterday’s new was dominated by the Fed’s report, which said the economy was picking up, yet it intended to keep the interest rates close to zero and said the central bank would slow its purchases of mortgages. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 80 points following the release of the update and the FTSE 100 is expected to open lower today. Oil prices also went south, as did copper and nickel.

Oil continued falling with benchmark crude for October delivery sliding to US$68.52/barrel, while West Texas Intermediate fell to US$68.7/barrel. Brent Crude was at US$67.1/barrel.

Precious metals inched higher compared to yesterday’s levels. Gold climbed to US$1,013/oz, Silver improved to US$16.88/oz and Platinum rose to US$1,327/oz.

Base metals were slightly lower compared to Wednesday. Copper slid to US$2.76/pound, Nickel slipped back below US$8, settling at US$7.93./pound and Zinc held steady US$0.85/pound.

Morning News Wrap

IN the FTSE 100, defence and aerospace systems manufacturer BAE Systems (LSE: BA) said today VT Group had exercised its option to sell its 45% shareholding in BVT Surface Fleet Limited to BAE for £346 million, which will be paid in cash.

Private equity group 3i (LSE: III) announced it has entered a new £250 multicurrency facility, set to commence 20 September next year and mature on 31 October 2012. The company simultaneously announced a new £100 million facility from Nordea Bank Finland, which will replace the current £150 million facility and mature on 31 October 2012.

Infrastructure software manufacturer Autonomy Corporation (LSE: AU) has entered into an agreement with the European Commission to license its Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) software.

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSE: LSE) released a pre-close update today, saying the money raised on the group’s markets during the period were in line with lasy year’s £43 million.

In the FTSE 250, gold and iron ore miner Peter Hambro Mining (LSE: POG) changed its name to Petropavlovsk PLC (LSE: POG).

Home insurance group Homeserve (LSE: HSV) said this morning it had sold its Emergency Services Division to a newly incorporated company backed by Lloyds TSB for £11 million, of which £7.3 million was paid in cash.

Investment firm Great Portland Estates (LSE: GPOR) said it had exchanged contracts to purchase the 90 Queen Street, London EC4 property for £45.8 million.

Pub group Mitchells & Butlers (LSE: MAB) released a trading update, saying like-for-like sales increased 2.6% in the 10 weeks to 19 September 2009.

In the AIM, software manufacturer smartFOCUS (AIM: STF) released its interim results, saying revenues increased 13% to £5.6 million, posting a profit of £0.2 million from last year’s loss of £0.6 million.

Developer of CAD and image analysis software Medicsight (AIM: MDST) said it had received approval from the Therapeutic Products Directorate of Health Canada to market its MedicRead 3.0 Colon advanced 3D visualisation workstation, incorporating ColonCAD 4.0 software.

Miner Goldplat (AIM: GDP) said it had completed the acquisition of the remaining 50% interest in Kilimapesa Gold Limited for US$2.7 million.

Another mining company EMED Mining (AIM: EMED) released its interims, reporting pre-tax losses of €4.2 million compared to last year’s loss of €6.8 million, narrowing losses per share to 1.52 pence from 3.72 pence. The company, which has no revenue, spent €588,000 on exploration compared to €1.5 million in H1 2008.

Finally, oil and gas company Leni Gas & Oil (AIM: LGO) released a production update, saying its direct and indirect oil production in August amounted to 16,103 barrels of oil, roughly unchanged from July when Leni produced 16,392 barrels.

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