1st Oct 2014 06:28
LONDON (Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 is set to open lower Wednesday, testing the 6,600 mark, after US indices saw a late sell off and ahead of a series of manufacturing purchasing managers index releases in the UK, Europe and the US.
Futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 16 points lower at 6,606.8. The index closed at 6,622.72 on Tuesday.
Chinese NBS Manufacturing PMI for September expanded at a stable rate, exceeding economists' expectations, figures from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing showed. The reading came in at 51.1, the same as in August. Economists had expected the index to decrease to 51.0.
The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite are closed Wednesday to celebrate Chinese National Day. The protests in Hong Kong, however, remain the main focus as thousands of pro-democracy protesters turned their backs on the Chinese flag-raising ceremony in Hong Kong early Wednesday. Fireworks planned for the evening were cancelled, city officials said and crowds continue to block major roads in several districts.
In Japan, the Nikkei closed the day down 0.5%.
US indices closed Tuesday lower, with the DJIA closing down 0.2%, the S&P 500 down 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite also ending 0.3% lower.
J Sainsbury PLC said like-for-like sales in the second quarter were down 2.8% year-on-year excluding fuel, and down 4.1% including fuel, its third consecutive quarterly decline. Sainsbury's, the UK's third-largest supermarket chain by market share, said total retail sales for the second quarter, the 16 weeks to September 27, declined 0.8% year-on-year excluding fuel, and were down 2.3% including fuel.
Fellow supermarket chain Tesco said the Financial Conduct Authority has launched a full investigation into the company's recent profit overstatement. On September 22, Tesco saw about GBP2 billion wiped off its market capitalisation after it said it had overstated its first-half pretax profit guidance by GBP250 million. It suspended four executives while it undertakes an investigation into the issue.
The economic calendar Wednesday is dominated by Markit manufacturing PMI results for September from a host of European countries, with the eurozone as a whole at 0900 BST and the UK at 0930 BST.
US data will fill the rest of the day with ISM manufacturing PMI for September being the highlight at 1500 BST.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]
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