UK benchmark FTSE 100 advanced sharply on Tuesday, catching up gains after bank holiday on Monday. FTSE 100 gained 0.9% or 52 points, reaching 622.55. Appreciation in the index was driven by mining companies as Rio Tinto PLC added 4.6%, BHP Billiton PLC climbed 3.5%. Kazakhmys PLC rose 3.2% while Xstrata PLC increased 3.3%. Mining shares surged after positive data on Chinese manufacturing. Engineering shares also recovered with
US futures rallied ahead of American first trading session in 2012 indicating that shares could also open higher and extend gains as manufacturing data from emerging economies are lifting investor optimism. Futures on Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.7% while those on S&P 500 surged 1.8%. Futures on Nasdaq Composite soared 2%. Stock futures signal probable direction of markets after opening.
US benchmark S&P 500 Index ended year almost flat or 0.003% down at 1,257.60. Nevertheless Wall Street analysts are optimistic towards US stock performance next year. On average money managers and strategists predict 7% improvement for the index. Their forecasts for 2012 vary between 1,225 and 1,583. The consensus among analysts is at 1,351.
Greece will be forced to exit the Euro Zone in case it fails to agree with the EU, private bondholders and the IMF on the second bailout worth 130 billion euros, said Pantelis Kapsis, government's official. The country may default in case the deal is not concluded till March when the country has to make bond payments. Experts say it is likely to agree
The EU countries have to solve the debt crisis using their own efforts, said Mitt Romney, Republican U.S. presidential candidate. The US has an interest in preventing the Euro Zone's collapse but the major responsibility for avoiding the recession should remain on the EU leaders, he added.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA announced it found new light oil and natural gas deposits in Espirito Santo state. Preliminary analysis determined the natural gas and oil of premium quality and the drilling will be continued to the depth of 6,100 meters to check deeper formations, said the company. Petrobras did not announce the estimated volume of the resources' deposits.
France insists that Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at developing weapons and demands 'stricter' sanctions for Iran, said Alain Juppe, Foreign Minister. He announced the EU countries should follow the US in banning oil exports and freezing the assets of the Iranian central bank. Iran denies all accusations saying the programme serves civil purposes.
Hungarian opposition engaged in mass protests against Hungary's new constitution approved on January 1. It is the first joint demonstration against Hungarian PM Viktor Orban since he was elected in 2010. Tens of thousands picketers gathered around Opera house in Budapest to protest against constitution which have been criticized by US and EU for hampering democracy. Lawmakers last week voted in favour of a law that
German jobless rate dropped more than predicted in December as lingering winter supported employments in construction. Surge in cars and machinery exports also contributed to decline in German unemployment. The number of unemployed people decreased by 22 000 in December, reaching 2.89 million, said national Labour agency. Economists earlier predicted a drop of 10 000.
European stocks opened higher on Tuesday led by miners. UK's FTSE 100 rallied 1.7% to 5,664.61, catching up gains after yesterdays' bank holiday. Both Stoxx Europe 600 index and German DAX 30 index traded 0.8% higher at 249.04 and 6,125.86 respectively. French CAC 40 index lost 0.3% reaching 3,211.84 as the shares of France Telecom SA fell 1.4%.
US crude oil futures hit $100-a-barrel at the Asian trade amid rallying Asian stocks, weaker dollar and fears over the Iran oil exports disruption. Light, sweet crude oil futures for February contract jumped to $100.29 a barrel during the electronic trade, adding 1.5% from close on Friday, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
China's equities are likely to be good performers in 2012 after quite poor performance last year, reported Daiwa Capital Markets. The current valuation on the price-to-earnings basis is almost 33% lower than long-term average when looking at the MSCI China Index. The risk/reward outlook is favorable, added Colin Bradbury from Daiwa Capital Markets.
Iran announced it would take action in case the US aircraft which left the Gulf recently returns. Iran advices the US ships not to return to the area as Iranians are not used to warn twice, said Ataollah Salehi. Iran expresses protest to the fresh sanctions of the US stipulating US ban on the foreign businesses access to the country's financial system if they
Es-Sider, Libyan biggest oil port, has resumed loadings after disruptions caused by civil war in the country, reported head of local oil company. Before civil war, the port loaded about 447,000 barrels daily being of strategic importance for Libyan oil exports. Repair of the Es-Sider facility is likely to trigger recovery of the oil sector.
China's government reported that 130 major cities collected 1.86 trillion yuan of land sales revenue last year, indicating 13% decline on yearly basis, according to the China Index Academy. Experts claim the underlying reasons are tougher liquidity conditions faced by property developers and government policies aimed at real estate sector cooling.
Indian gold imports declined in the period between October and December on a yearly basis. Traditionally this period is the busiest for gold buying. The yellow metal's imports dropped 56% in last quarter of 2011 as compared to 2010, according to Reuters report. Indian investors took advantage of record gold prices in September-October and sold a large amount their gold holdings, said Prithviraj Kothari, the
UK manufacturing activity contracted in December but at lower rate than in previous months. The Markit/CIPS purchasing managers index increased to 49.6 from 47.7 in November. Analysts expected the PMI to approach 47.3 in December. The improvement is inspiring but, taken the pessimism over the Euro Zone's economy and weaker domestic demand, the prospects of the UK manufacturing remain uncertain, said David Noble, the CEO
In December the registered unemployment level in Spain increased for a fifth straight month as the country is facing economic slowdown. The number of jobless individuals increased by 1,897 reaching 4.42 million in December, said Labour Ministry. In November the number of jobless soared by 59,536. Spanish economy is experiencing a contraction during last months as exports and tourism decline.
After good performance in Q1 of 2011 the risk-aversion returned and put the investors off the commodity market with S&P GSCI commodity index seeing the first slight drop since 2008, DJ UBS commodity index tumbling by 13% and Reuters Jefferies CRB index ended the year 8% lower. However, commodity price movements can be attributed to seasonality as S&P GSCI index tended to trade negative in
The Euro Zone, experiencing severe financial difficulties, has nobody to apply for help as China shows unwillingness to provide credits to the EU, India combats with consequences of last bubble and the US faces severe unemployment. Germany will not be able to stimulate the IMF any longer and it will be forced either to sacrifice itself by accepting debt union and inflation to rescue the
Total SA and Chesapeake Energy Corp set a joint venture aimed at generating energy from shale deposits in Ohio. Total SA will have 25% stake and already paid $700 million up front. The company will have to pay another $1.63 billion over the next seven years to cover the capital spending in setting the joint venture.
Despite unfavorable weather conditions in some part of India the expectations of rabi crops look optimistic. India predicts it will manage to attain the target of record high food grain crops totaling 245 million tonnes in the period of 2011-2012.
Chinese shipbuilding sector experienced a sharp decline in orders last year as ship owners did not want to expand their fleet size on the bleak economic situation, reported the NDRC. Shipbuilding orders fell by 47.3% on annual rate to 33.69 million DWT last year in the period between January and November. Ship export expansion also slowed down as ships produced for overseas delivery totaled 291.3
Danish sovereign bonds currently are highly appreciated by investors as they are attempting to avoid impact of European debt crisis and thus are investing in safer countries. Denmark last week auctioned $351 million in 2-month and 5-month notes at negative borrowing costs. Overseas ownership of national debt reached 35% in November, the higher proportion since fall 2000.