FTSE 100 seen higher ahead of US income and consumption updates

The FTSE 100 is projected to gain 0.25% in early trade today to recoup part of Friday’s 0.4% loss. Investors will be looking to US personal income and consumption updates, which are due out today.
US stocks closed flat on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the broader S&P 500 index and the technology heavy NASDAQ composite all finished around the opening level.
Asian stocks were mixed today. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.9%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rallied 1.9%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 and Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 were flat, while South Korea’s KOSPI declined 0.35%.
Communications group WPP (LSE: WPP) led the blue chips with a gain of nearly 3%. Oil and gas producer Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) and commercial property company British Land (LSE: BLND) both gained 1.7%, while credit information group Experian (LSE: EXPN), property stocks Liberty International (LSE: LII), Hammerson (LSE: HMSO), plumbing and heating equipment manufacturer Wolseley (LSE: WOS) and clothing retailer Next (LSE: NXT) added slightly more than 1%.
Cable & Wireless Communications (LSE: CWC) and Cable & Wireless Worldwide (LSE: CW) were the heaviest fallers with losses of 23.3% and 7.8% respectively. Power generation company International Power (LSE: IPR) and hedge fund manager Man Group (LSE: EMG) followed, shedding more than 3.5%. Other notable fallers included Scottish & Southern Energy (LSE: SSE), which declined 2.2% and bank Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) and oil and gas producer BG Group (LSE: BG) with losses of 1.7%.
Commodities
Oil prices rose today with May Brent Crude reaching US$79.87/barrel, while US light, sweet crude improved to US$80.57/barrel.
Precious metals also did well as gold spiked to US$1,109/oz, while silver and platinum advanced to US$17.04/oz and US$1,602/oz respectively.
Base metals were higher with copper and nickel rising to US$3.45/lb and US$11.05/lb, while zinc climbed to US$1.01/lb.
Morning news wrap
In AIM, Turkey and Ethiopia operating gold miner Stratex International (AIM: STI) reported encouraging geochemistry results from its Megenta gold discovery in Ethiopia, where rock chip sampling returned up to 3.0 g/t Au - detailed mapping and sampling underway to define drill targets for Q3 2010.
Indonesia operating coal miner Churchill Mining (AIM: CHL) said pre-tax losses in the six months to 31 December 2009 narrowed to US$3.06 million from US$13.8 million for the equivalent period of the previous year.
Irish oil and gas exploration company Petroceltic International (AIM: PCI) has raised gross proceeds of approximately US$120.5 million through a placing of 635 million new shares at f 12.75 pence per share.

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