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FTSE preview: Shares hurt by Irish debt

By Reuters
Updated: 03:02 EDT, 12 November 2010

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The FTSE 100 is expected to open lower after falls overnight on Wall Street and in Asia, as investors grow increasingly nervous about Irish debt, and with a slide in commodity prices likely to pressure energy stocks and miners.

Friday feeling: Nerves around EU dent will hurt shares.

Rolls-Royce, the subject of recent investor scrutiny on the back of the Qantas engine scare, will fall under the spotlight as the engineer issues a trading update.

The FTSE 100 blue-chip index looked set to shed 13-19 points, or as much as 0.3%, according to financial bookmakers, after it closed down 1.71 points at 5,815.23 on Thursday.

British consumer confidence slipped last month to its lowest level since March 2009 as looming public spending cuts darkened the outlook, a survey by Nationwide showed.

Cisco's discouraging outlook dragged Wall Street lower on Thursday.

Japan's Nikkei average closed down 1.4% on Friday as profit-taking intensified after recent rallies, reflecting sharp falls in Chinese shares and plunges in oil and other commodities prices.

Wariness over possible further tightening measures by China saw fund operators lock in profits from risk assets, including commodities and equities.

The euro extended losses on Friday on fears Ireland may need a bailout.

The possibility of a bailout for Ireland has significantly widened the difference of bond yields of high-risk European countries over those of Germany, and overshadowed a Group of 20 leaders' summit in Seoul where a breakthrough on resolving global economic imbalances looked unattainable.

November preliminary Reuters/University of Michigan consumer confidence figures are due today.

Standard Chartered will focus on organic growth and aims to expand non-banking operations in South Korea, its chief executive said.

Australia gave environmental approval to Royal Dutch Shell's Prelude floating liquefied natural gas plant, bringing Shell a step closer to winning the race to build the world's first floating LNG plant.

Xstrata has received environmental clearance from Australia's Queensland state government for its 30m tonne per year, open-cut Wandoan thermal coal mine.

Drinks group Diageo could be asked to quit the beer industry's top trade body in a backlash against the Guinness maker's tax proposals, the Daily Telegraph said.

Rolls-Royce issues a trading update. An oil fire may have caused the Rolls-Royce engine of a Qantas A380 superjumbo to break apart after take-off last week, European regulators said in the first official comment on the causes of the incident, the Financial Times reported.

Companies reporting today include Essar Energy, Aegis Group, Electrocomponents, Kier Group, Spectis and Tullett Prebon.

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