UK Market Closing Comments By IG Index

Going into the final few minutes of trading, the FTSE 100 is just about positive on the day.

It has been another relatively quiet day with a tighter range for the market than we have been used to recently. Oil has once again played its part today with another chunky slide that saw the price of crude briefly below $106 per barrel. This, plus further weakness in commodities, has not done the related sectors any favours with 9 out of today’s top ten blue chip fallers either in the mining or oil-related areas.

The share prices of some of the previous ‘safe–havens’ - for example BG Group, Anglo American, Xstrata - still look vulnerable to possible further weakness and this may well serve to temper the effects of any further recoveries in the previously battered property and financial sectors. With opinion still split on whether there is worse news to come from the major economies, this could well signal choppier trading in the weeks to come with little overall direction.

The US market has managed to get off to a positive start after Monday’s holiday but this is still capped for now by the highs seen in August – traders are viewing the 11,900 level on the Dow as the next big hurdle to clear if further progress is expected through September. Taking a medium term look at the UK, for now the balance of power seems to still rest with the bulls, with dips still bringing the buyers out – but with Friday seeing the release of the latest unemployment numbers out of the USA, we shouldn’t be surprised to see little progress being made by London either way this week.



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