FTSE 100 seen lower ahead of UK mortgage approvals, corporate data

The FTSE 100 is projected to open 0.3% lower to give away part of the 0.5% gain it made yesterday on a strong session from miners, banks and oil & gas companies.
Chilean copper miner Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) took the lead among the blue chips, rallying 7%. Engineering firm Invensys (LSE: ISYS) followed, tacking on 4.3%. Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) moved up 4%, while miners Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) and Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) added 3.5%. Peers Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) and Anglo American (LSE: AAL) climbed 3% and 2.7% respectively. Temporary power provider Aggreko (LSE: AGK) rose 3.4%.
Broadcaster BSkyB (LSE: BSY) was at the bottom of the pile with a 2.2% loss. Quality and safety services provider Intertek (LSE: ITRK), oil and gas supermajor BP (LSE: BP) and communications group WPP (LSE: WPP) all shed 2%. Published Reed Elsevier (LSE: REL) was the only other FTSE 100 constituent to lose more than 1%, moving down 1.7%. National Grid (LSE: NG) declined 1%.
US stocks had a weak second half of the day, giving up all of the gains made in the morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average pared gains to finish flat, the broader S&P 500 index declined 0.4% and the technology heavy NASDAQ composite lost 0.3%.
Asian markets were in selling mode today. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.1%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index plummeted 2.9%, South Korea’s KOSPI was 0.15% lower and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was flat, while Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index went against the tide, rising 0.4%.
Commodities
Oil prices were slightly lower as June Brent Crude declined to US$86.61/barrel and US light, sweet crude declined to US$83.57/barrel.
Precious metals followed the trend. Gold inched lower to US$1,152/oz, while silver and platinum retreated to US$18.23/oz and US$1,736/oz respectively.
Base metals also were in decline. Copper and nickel slid to US$3.48/lb and US$12.06/lb, while zinc dropped to US$1.07/lb.
The economic data that is due out today includes US consumer confidence data and the Case/Shiller home price index, while UK mortgage approvals figures will be released this morning.
UK investors will have plenty of corporate data to digest today, which will include reports from BP, Lloyds (LSE: LLOY), ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM) and Imperial Tobacco Group (LSE: IMT).

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