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| UK 100 Leaders | Close (p) | Chg (p) | % Chg | % YTD |
| Berkeley Group Holdings (The) PLC | 3283 | 82.0 | 2.6 | -11.0 |
| Randgold Resources Ltd | 6335 | 130.0 | 2.1 | 52.9 |
| London Stock Exchange Group PLC | 2818 | 28.0 | 1.0 | 2.7 |
| Worldpay Group PLC | 280.5 | 2.5 | 0.9 | -8.7 |
| Fresnillo PLC | 914 | 7.0 | 0.8 | 29.1 |
| UK 100 Laggards | Close (p) | Chg (p) | % Chg | % YTD |
| Glencore PLC | 141.85 | -8.0 | -5.3 | 56.8 |
| BHP Billiton PLC | 734.5 | -35.2 | -4.6 | -3.4 |
| Standard Chartered PLC | 432.7 | -19.4 | -4.3 | -23.2 |
| Anglo American PLC | 525.7 | -21.8 | -4.0 | 75.6 |
| Standard Life PLC | 335.7 | -13.5 | -3.9 | -13.9 |
| Major World Indices | Mid/Close | Chg | % Chg | % YTD |
| UK UK 100 | 6,091.2 | -73.5 | -1.19 | -2.4 |
| UK | 16,725.6 | -120.0 | -0.71 | -4.0 |
| FR CAC 40 | 4,250.3 | -94.9 | -2.18 | -8.3 |
| DE DAX 30 | 9,563.4 | -258.7 | -2.63 | -11.0 |
| US DJ Industrial Average 30 | 17,603.3 | -133.8 | -0.75 | 1.0 |
| US Nasdaq Composite | 4,843.9 | -47.9 | -0.98 | -3.3 |
| US S&P 500 | 2,045.2 | -21.0 | -1.01 | 0.1 |
| JP Nikkei 225 | 15,695.7 | -37.2 | -0.24 | -17.5 |
| HK Hang Seng Index 48 | 20,199.6 | 22.6 | 0.11 | -7.8 |
| AU S&P/ASX 200 | 4,945.9 | 21.5 | 0.44 | -6.6 |
| Commodities & FX | Mid/Close | Chg | % Chg | % YTD |
| Crude Oil, West Texas Int. ($/barrel) | 36.84 | 1.16 | 3.24 | -0.6 |
| Crude Oil, Brent ($/barrel) | 38.55 | 0.88 | 2.34 | 2.5 |
| Gold ($/oz) | 1229.70 | -2.70 | -0.22 | 16.0 |
| Silver ($/oz) | 15.07 | -0.07 | -0.45 | 9.0 |
| GBP/USD – US$ per £ | 1.41 | – | -0.07 | -4.0 |
| EUR/USD – US$ per € | 1.14 | – | -0.16 | 4.6 |
| GBP/EUR – € per £ | 1.25 | – | 0.09 | -8.2 |
Click graph to enlarge
UK 100 Index called to open +25pts at 6115, having bottomed out at 6060 and delivered a breakout beyond a 2-day trendline of falling resistance at 6100. This bodes well for the Bulls wanting to see another rally back to 5-week channel highs, although it of course prolongs the Bears' wait for a major breakdown. Watch levels: Bullish 6130, Bearish 6090.
The positive European opening call comes courtesy of solid improvements to Chinese and Indian PMI Services and a Ted Cruz Republican victory over Donald Trump in the Wisconson primaries which have served to boost risk appetite and calm US political concerns, respectively. An oil price bounce is also helping, as per usual, after a US stockpile drawdown and continued hopes (in vain?) of a OPEC-led production freeze.
Asian stocks mixed around breakeven. This follows a negative US close where sentiment was dealt a blow by news that Pfizer was pulling out of its $160bn merger with Irish-based Allergan due to a Washington crackdown on tax inversion deals (watch European Healthcare names this morning). Note also better than expected German Industrial Production data this morning which offsets the weak Factory Orders data that hurt the DAX yesterday.
Japan’s Nikkei still hindered by a strong Yen (18-month highs), taking the index’s losing streak to 7 straight sessions. while Australia’s ASX shows small gains after the bounce in oil.
US bourses closed down again on Tuesday, led lower by healthcare on the collapse of the Pfizer/Allergan tie-up. Financials also underperformed. Note, however, relative oil price strength on a drawdown in API crude inventories and, as expected, some timely OPEC comments about a production freeze. Mixed US macro data is weighing, as are concerns about a potential sooner-than-expected rate hike by the Fed with traders trying to forecast the contents of this evening’s March meeting minutes.
No surprise to see crude prices go back up yesterday, after deputy Kuwaiti official picked up the mic to freestyle about how crude oil output can be frozen even if one major producer (Iran) refuses to freeze output. Really? API data also indicated a drawdown in US crude inventories. Both crude markers are nonetheless still in a downtrend with a few very good sessions required to regain anything like the highs of mid-March. We’d expect markets to forget about production chat well before then.
Gold is essentially flat while keeping support in global uncertainty. The yellow metal is tracking the trend line of March falling highs this morning back towards $1225 support.
In focus today, amid a light data calendar, will be US EIA Oil stocks data after the API drawdown last night. Will it show a similar result like last week? Speaker-wise we have the Fed’s Mester and Bullard as well as the Fed FOMC minutes. Everyone on message?
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