17th Mar 2015 06:57
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks are set to open slightly lower Tuesday after a strong rally in stocks across Europe and Wall Street on Monday.
IG indicates the FTSE 100 to open 10.1 points lower at 6,794.0. The index closed up 0.9% at 6,804.08 on Monday despite a heavy fall in oil prices.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell to a fresh six-year low on Monday amid rising stocks and hopes for a nuclear deal with Iran. WTI fell to a low of USD42.83 a barrel, its lowest since March 2009, while Brent oil declined to a low of USD52.64 a barrel, its lowest since the beginning of February.
Ahead of the open Tuesday, oil has seen a modest recovery. Brent trades at USD54.01 a barrel, and WTI is at USD43.78 a barrel.
Wall Street made broad gains Monday, with the DJIA closing up 1.3%, the S&P 500 ending up 1.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite rising 1.2%.
In Asia Tuesday, the Japanese Nikkei closed up 1.0%.
The Bank of Japan kept its massive stimulus unchanged and cautioned that inflation may slow to about zero percent. In a statement, the BoJ announced that the policy board headed by Governor Haruhiko Kuroda decided by an 8-1 majority vote to maintain the size of quantitative and qualitative easing. The bank will continue to raise the monetary base at an annual pace of about JPY80 trillion.
The Hang Seng trades down 0.4%, and the Shanghai Composite is up 0.9%.
In the corporate calendar Tuesday, FTSE 100 miner Antofagasta reports full-year results, as will FTSE 250-listed online takeaway company Just Eat. Grocer J Sainsbury issues a fourth-quarter trading statement, while financial spread betting firm IG Group releases a third quarter trading statement.
In the economic calendar, eurozone consumer price index is due at 1000 GMT, as are ZEW survey results for both the eurozone and Germany.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]; @NeilThakrar1
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