FTSE 100 preview: Shares up; Gold high

By Reuters
Updated: 03:02 EDT, 29 September 2010

The FTSE 100 was seen gaining today after Wall Street rose yesterday and positive economic data from China spurred shares around the globe.

Watching brief: Shares are expected to rise.

The blue chip index was seen gaining around 0.1% after rising 0.1% on Tuesday to close at 5,578.44, lifted by stronger miners.

US stocks rose on Tuesday as latecomers jumped onto the September bandwagon, buying up sectors that have outperformed during the month. The S&P 500 has risen 9.4% so far in September, historically the worst month for stocks.

Asian stocks hit a two-year high, with investors increasingly convinced the US Federal Reserve will take more action to support an anaemic economic recovery.

A rise in HSBC's China Purchasing Managers' Index to a five-month high in September pointed to renewed, though moderate, momentum in the vast industrial sector that is the backbone of China's economy.

Asian stocks outside Japan rose 0.8% and were poised for their biggest monthly gain since July 2009.

Gold miners were once again set to be supported as the yellow metal struck another record peak on economic uncertainty while Silver hit a 30-year high on investment demand.

Investors will watch British mortgage approval, money supply, and consumer credit data for more clues on the domestic economy. Mortgage approvals were seen at 47,000, slightly lower than for the previous month.

Centrica, Inmarsat, International Power, Tullow Oil and WM Morrison Supermarkets were all going ex-dividend and set to knock 1.38 points off the index.

A large portion of fines that BP may pay for its role in the worst oil spill in US history should go toward fixing the damage caused to Gulf Coast states, a federal official said on Tuesday.

BP Capital Markets sold $3.5bn of debt in two parts on Tuesday, said IFR, a Thomson Reuters service.

Royal Dutch Shell told Brazil's oil and gas regulator ANP on Tuesday that it found oil in its subsalt concession block BM-S-54 in the Santos Basin.

Top executives at HSBC said there are no plans to move the bank's headquarters from London, as they gathered for their regular board meeting here on Wednesday amid a surprise shake-up in the corporate suite of Europe's largest bank.

Europe's biggest bank, will 'have some explaining to do' to investors on why it ignored best corporate practice and chose an executive director as chairman, a leading advisory service said.

Barclays' investment bank arm has appointed 10 managing directors in its prime services business as part of a build-up of the unit providing services and financing for hedge funds.

A capital surcharge on large banks is not expected to become mandatory in all the world's top economies, UK Financial Services Authority Chairman Adair Turner told the annual Eurofi conference on EU financial regulation on Tuesday.

Astrazeneca is set to start costly final-stage trials of a new pill for rheumatoid arthritis, ramping up investment in a programme that highlights its new-found pragmatism towards drug development. Also, RBS cuts the drugmaker to 'hold' from 'buy'.

General Electric and Britain's Rolls Royce Group said on Tuesday that one of the F136 engines they are developing for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was damaged during testing on 23 September.

De Beers, 45%-owned by Anglo American, said on Tuesday that it had sold its Jagersfontein diamond property to South Africa's Superkolong Consortium which comprises black investors.

The Daily Mail's Market Report noted whispers that a cash-rich private equity player is reading to table a £346m, or 90p a share, cash bid for motor dealer Lookers.

There will be results today from Smiths Group, FirstGroup, Dominos Pizza, Liontrust, Misys and Topps Tiles.