FTSE 100 preview: Middle East oil fear
The FTSE 100 is expected to suffer falls today as strife in oil producing regions pushed up the price of crude and kept investors wary on buying further into riskier assets.
Fear: Unrest in the Middle East has pushed prices down.
The blue-chip index is seen falling as much as 0.3% after it edged 0.1% lower on Friday to close at 6,082.99.
Anti-government protesters rallied in Libya at the weekend, tribal leaders spoke out against leader Muammar Gaddafi, and army units defected to the opposition as oil exporter Libya endured one of the bloodiest revolts to convulse the Arab world.
Brent crude oil futures and US crude futures both vaulted around $1/bbl to $103.50 and $87.31 per barrel respectively, while gold prices inched higher, adding to last week's gains of nearly 3%.
With an absence of UK data and with Wall Street closed for a public holiday, investors will look to eurozone flash PMI data from February for clues on the state of the global economy.
There will be updates today from John Wood Group, Hammerson, Devro, Helphire, Lancashire Holdings, Mondi and XP Power.
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