FTSE 100 steady in early trading

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 09:15

The FTSE 100 maintained its position this morning as property and retailers saw gains.

At 08:49 BST, the index was up 0.34 per cent to 5,261.10.

Builders merchant Wolseley led the gains up 3.47 per cent as Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock on forecasts for sustainable growth as the global economy continues its recovery.

Tesco was up 2.56 per cent and Morrisons rose 1.43 per cent as the former was aided by a research note from Nomura.

Property stocks Hammerson and Segro gained 1.75 per cent and 1.66 per cent respectively.

London Stock Exchange Group was down 3.10 per cent after a Goldman Sachs downgrade, while Home Retail lost 2.53 per cent.

Smith Group lost 2.53 per cent and BAE Systems fell 1.80 per cent.

All eyes in London now seem turned towards the Bank of England, as minutes from the last meeting of the monetary policy committee are released today giving some inkling over the future of quantitative easing.

In the US last night the Dow dropped 0.5 per cent and the S&P 500 fell 0.62 per cent.

Over night in Asia, the Nikkei was steady down 0.03 per cent and the Hang Seng lost 0.27 per cent.

This morning in Europe, the Dax rose 0.28 per cent and the Cac 40 rose 0.15 per cent.

On the currency markets, the pound was up 0.68 per cent against the dollar to $1.6492 and up 0.54 per cent against the euro to ?1.1023.

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