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FTSE preview: Metals weigh on miners

By Reuters
Updated: 02:56 EDT, 8 February 2011

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The FTSE 100 index was expected to edge down after a good recent run, with mining stocks likely to be hurt by a pullback in copper prices.

A dealer monitors her screens on the trading floor of IG Index in London

Watching brief: The index has gained in four out of the last five trading sessions.

The UK blue chip index looks set to fall 4-9 points, or 0.1%, according to financial bookmakers, after it closed up 53.65 points, or 0.9%, at 6,051.03 on Tuesday, its highest finish since January 18.

The index has gained in four out of the last five trading sessions.

Technical analysis for the FTSE 100 was cautiously optimistic on a short-term view.

'The strong close has the FTSE in a position to breakout to the upside and challenge the high for the year at 6,090.49, but upside pressure is needed shortly after the opening to maintain the strength,' Enis Mehmet, an analyst at Autochartist, said.

'Any hesitation at current levels and the market will likely retreat, taking a little steam out of the current rally and forcing traders to rethink their long positions.'

UK miners, which gained strongly on Monday in tandem with metal prices, could be knocked as London copper fell ahead of the return of China from a week-long holiday.

The rally of the past two weeks that pushed copper to record highs may have peaked for a while as technical indicators are turning bearish.

Wall Street saw a firmer close on Monday, with merger activity driving the Dow and the S&P to two-and-a-half-year highs.

In terms of domestic economic data, British retail sales bounced back in January after a snow-hit December, driven by discounts and a rush to beat the VAT sales tax rise in the first few days of the month, a survey by the British Retail Consortium showed.

And house prices in England and Wales fell in January, although the pace of decline eased for a third consecutive month, a survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed.

Analysts said that overall, investors were treading with caution ahead of Thursday's Bank of England interest rate decision.

No major US economic data is scheduled for release on Tuesday.

There will be results today from BG Group, Xstrata, Beazley Group, McBride and Wolfson Microelectronics, with an update from Thomas Cook.

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