FTSE 100 preview: Japan woe deepens

By Reuters
Updated: 03:42 EDT, 15 March 2011

The FTSE 100 is expected to suffer heavy falls as more explosions damaged a nuclear plant in Japan, triggering a rise in radiation levels, sending investors fleeing from riskier assets such as equities.

Heavy rain: Japan is counting the cost of the earthquake and tsunami.

The blue chip index is seen falling 155 points or 2.7% by financial bookmakers after it closed 0.9% lower on Monday at 5,775.24 points.

The index is down 3.7% in March and has lost almost 200 points in the past four trading days with sentiment undermined by violence in Libya, euro zone debt worries, and the disaster in Japan.

Japan's Nikkei fell 10.6% on Tuesday, other Asian equity markets, commodities and Asian currencies fell sharply as investors fled to assets perceived as safer havens.

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation levels at the nuclear plant on the northeast coast had risen, and urged people within a 30km radius of the facility to stay indoors.

Radiation levels in the city of Maebashi, 100km north of the capital, Tokyo, were up to 10 times normal on Tuesday, Kyodo news agency said, quoting the city government.

Panic swept Tokyo on Tuesday after a rise in radioactive levels around an earthquake-hit nuclear power plant north of the city, causing some residents to leave the capital and others to stock up on food and supplies.

With no significant domestic data due for release on Tuesday, investors will await US housing market data for March and the FOMC rate decision after the market closes.

Royal Dutch Shell will update investors on Tuesday on its exploration and production pipeline as continuing political unrest in the Arab world clouds the short-term outlook in the oil market.

Vodafone and Vivendi are far from agreeing a price for the British mobile firm to sell out of SFR, their French mobile joint venture, sources told Reuters.

BHP Billiton is working with its Japanese customers to determine what impact the devastating earthquake and tsunami have had on their business and working to come up with steps to ease the impact, it said on Tuesday.

BG Group will invest up to $30bn in Brazil over the next decade, seeking to tap fast-growing reserves of crude and natural gas in Latin America's biggest economy, chairman Robert Wilson said on Monday.

There will be results today from G4S, Axis Shield, Close Brothers Group, Collins Stewart, Debenhams, Gem Diamonds, Mears Group and St. Ives.