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| UK 100 Leaders | Close (p) | Chg (p) | % Chg | % YTD |
| Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC | 2358 | 107.0 | 4.8 | 19.2 |
| Taylor Wimpey PLC | 204.2 | 7.0 | 3.6 | 48.2 |
| Persimmon PLC | 2040 | 67.0 | 3.4 | 29.3 |
| Smith & Nephew PLC | 1209 | 36.0 | 3.1 | 1.8 |
| Barratt Developments PLC | 634 | 18.0 | 2.9 | 34.6 |
| UK 100 Laggards | Close (p) | Chg (p) | % Chg | % YTD |
| Anglo American PLC | 307.35 | -20.7 | -6.3 | -74.4 |
| Pearson PLC | 745.5 | -22.5 | -2.9 | -37.4 |
| Rolls-Royce Group PLC | 586.5 | -8.5 | -1.4 | -32.6 |
| BP PLC | 360.75 | -5.2 | -1.4 | -12.2 |
| Rio Tinto PLC | 1978 | -28.5 | -1.4 | -34.1 |
| Major World Indices | Mid/Close | Chg | % Chg | % YTD |
| UK UK 100 | 6,314.6 | 59.9 | 0.96 | -3.8 |
| UK | 17,569.4 | 154.3 | 0.89 | 9.2 |
| FR CAC 40 | 4,701.4 | 83.4 | 1.81 | 10.0 |
| DE DAX 30 | 10,860.0 | 206.2 | 1.94 | 10.8 |
| US DJ Industrial Average 30 | 17,721.0 | 192.8 | 1.10 | -0.6 |
| US Nasdaq Composite | 5,107.9 | 67.0 | 1.33 | 7.9 |
| US S&P 500 | 2,078.4 | 21.9 | 1.06 | 1.0 |
| JP Nikkei 225 | 19,033.7 | 51.5 | 0.27 | 9.1 |
| HK Hang Seng Index 48 | 21,902.6 | -97.1 | -0.44 | -7.2 |
| AU S&P/ASX 200 | 5,319.9 | 52.6 | 1.00 | -1.7 |
| Commodities & FX | Mid/Close | Chg | % Chg | % YTD |
| Crude Oil, West Texas ($/barrel) | 34.83 | 0.07 | -1.18 | -30.7 |
| Crude Oil, Brent ($/barrel) | 37.45 | -0.07 | -0.19 | -35.0 |
| Gold ($/oz) | 1069.65 | 1.25 | 0.12 | -9.6 |
| Silver ($/oz) | 13.94 | 0.01 | 0.05 | -11.1 |
| GBP/USD – US$ per £ | 1.484 | – | 0.11 | -4.8 |
| EUR/USD – US$ per € | 1.093 | – | 0.04 | -9.7 |
| GBP/EUR – € per £ | 1.357 | – | 0.07 | 5.4 |
Click graph to enlarge
UK 100 Index called to open -15pts at 6300 with yesterday’s pattern conundrum turning out to be the more bullish of the two. Note, however, today’s pretty much unmistakeable rising wedge pattern on the 30-min chart, with daily technicals an even mix of bullish and overbought. Watch levels: Bullish 6400, Bearish 6200.
The slightly negative opening call comes amid a mixed Asian session ahead of New Year holidays. An oil price rebound yesterday buoyed many global markets - particularly those heavily exposed to commodities - with some nice US data helping the cause further. However note that volumes remain thin and the self-fulfilling Santa Rally theme makes drivers (if there are any) hard to pinpoint in another short week.
US futures called lower this morning, after tech and healthcare led yesterday’s rally that helped push the S&P500 back positive for the year. Energy stocks also provided a boost on an oil price rebound, before attention shifted back to US stockpile data due out later today to put Crude prices back on the back foot.
The US Dollar Basket (DBX) (an index that measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of key global peers) has gone up 9% this year amid divergent monetary policy between the US and Europe, although we note losses of 2% in December alone as traders appear to be exiting the currency.
Of course, now is not the time to make concrete predictions, but if this trend were to continue in the new year, then the outlook for metals in particular could be improved somewhat. One to keep an eye on for those of you who like to trade Gold and miners.
In focus today could well be a positive session for UK Index house builders and related stocks, after UK house price growth accelerated in December. Later on we have US pending home sales seen up - adding supply to the stateside housing market, while Crude inventories are once again set to rise.
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There are no UK Company Headlines of note this morning.
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