Overview: the US stock market hit yet new 2009 highs yesterday, rising for the sixth straight day on more positive quarterly reports. Meanwhile, the US dollar hit its lowest point in 15 months and China’s oil imports rose to the second highest level ever to give a boost to commodities and help gold reach new record level.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4%, almost reaching 10,300. The S&P 500 index improved 0.5%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.7%.
Asian markets were in decline today. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.5%, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.7%, while China’s Shanghai composite index inched 0.1% lower.
December Brent Crude climbed to US$78.15/oz, while US light, sweet crude for December delivery reached US$79.47/barrel.
Gold hit US$1,120/oz, while silver and platinum rose to US$17.64/oz and US$1,379/oz respectively.
However, base metals declined with copper and nickel sliding to US$2.95/lb and US$7.67/lb respectively, while zinc moved down to US$0.97/lb.
The FTSE 100 is seen opening just 5 points lower on profit taking following what has been a very strong week for the Footsie, which saw the blue chip index stop just short of reaching the 5,300 mark just a week after slipping below 5,000.
The top tier index gained 36 points, or 0.7% yesterday, helped by a strong performance from miners Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) and Fresnillo (LSE: FRES), which both added around 6%, and commercial property companies with Segro (LSE: SGRO), Liberty International (LSE: LII) and Hammerson (LSE: HMSO), which rose 5.8%, 5.1% and 3.3% respectively. British Lang (LSE: BLND) also added 3.3%. Hedge fund manager Man Group (LSE: EMG) and asset management firm Schroders (LSE: SDR) also did well, tacking on more than 3.5%.
Publisher Reed Elsevier (LSE: REL) was the leading faller with a 4% decline, while aerospace and defence systems manufacturer Cobham (LSE: COB) and part-nationalised bank Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS), which lost nearly 2%.