FTSE 100 poised for flat start after gains in US and Asia, commodities rise

The FTSE 100 is set for a flat start today, being projected to add 10 points, or 0.2% after tacking on 0.7% yesterday after the US stock market opened sharply higher in response to the upbeat ISM manufacturing and income and spending data, extending gains later when the US pending home sales update showed a 1% rise in December following a 16.4% fall in November, also marking a 10.9% year on year improvement.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.1%, the broader S&P 500 index rose 1.3% and the technology heavy NASDAQ composite was up 0.9%.
Asian stocks were higher today. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rallied 2%, China’s Shanghai composite index surged 2.4%, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.3%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.9% and South Korea’s KOSPI added 1.2%.
Miners did well yesterday as metal prices increased. Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) emerged atop the leaderboard along with oil and gas engineering firm Amec (LSE: AMEC) with both companies posting 4.5% gains. Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) and copper miner Kazakhmys (KSE: KAZ) followed with a 4% climb, while Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) and credit information group Experian (LSE: EXPN) added more than 3.5%.
Oil supermajor BP (LSE: BP) was the worst performing stock of the day after its quarterly results failed to meet market expectations, causing its stock to go down 4%. Utility companies Severn Trent (LSE: SVT) and United Utilities (LSE: UU) and insurer Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) followed with gains of over 1.5%, while defence and aerospace systems manufacturer BAE Systems (LSE: BA) was the only other FTSE 100 constituent to add more than 1%, gaining 1.3%.
Commodities
Oil prices were sharply higher following a strong performance in global stock markets. March Brent Crude rose to US$76.20/barrel, while US light, sweet crude reached US$77.40/barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Precious metals also improved with gold reaching US$1,120/oz, while silver and platinum rose to US$16.85/oz and US$1,581/oz respectively.
Base metals followed with copper and nickel advancing to US$3.12/lb and US$8.36/lb, while zinc rose to US$0.98/lb.
The economic data due out today includes the UK CIPS Services PMI update for January and ADP employment data in the US.

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