Overview: US stocks rallied again yesterday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing 2% to reach its 13 month highs and mark an improvement of about 5% from last week’s lows. The markets remained bullish throughout the day following the past weekend’s meeting of G20 ministers, which said the economic stimulus measures would remain in place.
The broader S&P 500 index added 2.2%, while the technology-focused Nasdaq composite moved up 2%.
Asian markets also were bullish. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.85% in the morning, Japan’s Nikkei average added 0.6%, and in China, where October car sales rose 75%, the Shanghai composite index inched just 0.1% higher.
Oil prices remained at roughly the same level as yesterday. December Brent Crude fluctuated around US$77.50/barrel, while US light, sweet crude for December delivery declined to US$79/barrel.
Precious metals also inched lower. Gold was down to US$1,100/oz, silver retreated to US$17.40/oz and platinum declined to US$1,350/oz.
Base metals followed. Copper and nickel declined to US$2.94/lb and US$7.82/lb respectively, while zinc slipped a few cents, arriving at US$0.97/lb.
The FTSE 100 is set to track gains on Wall Street and in Asia, gaining about 20 points in early trade. All eyes will be on banks HSBC (LSE: HSBA) and Barclays (LSE: BARC), mobile operator Vodafone (LSE: VOD) and tobacco group Imperial Tobacco (LSE: IMT), which are all set to update the market on their performance today.
Should it rise again, the UK stock market will extend its winning streak to five days. The blue chip index added 92 points yesterday with Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) and copper miner Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) emerging as the leading risers with gains of over 6%. Insurer Prudential and base metals focused miner Xstrata (LSE: XTA) followed, advancing 5%, while peers Vedanta (LSE: VED), Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) and silver miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) tacked on around 4.5%, as did telecom company Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT).