LONDON MARKET COMMENT: Stocks Seen Lower After Decline On Wall Street

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are set to open lower Tuesday, following losses on Wall Street.

"We saw US and UK markets make fresh all-time highs [Monday], helped by a rebound in commodity prices, as well as new highs in Asia markets, though US markets were unable to sustain their gains, closing lower, ahead of Apple?s numbers, and this weak close is likely to see a weaker European open this morning," says Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 31 points lower at 7,072.7. The index closed up 0.5% at 7,103.98, having reached a new record high of 7,122.37 during the afternoon session.

Wall Street ended lower Monday. The DJIA closed down 0.2%, while the S&P 500 ended down 0.4%. The Nasdaq Composite finished down 0.6%.

In Asia on Tuesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 trades up 0.4%, while the Hang Seng is down 0.2%. The Shanghai Composite is trading down 0.6%.

UK investors will focus on the release of UK first quarter GDP, due at 0930 BST.

"With the election campaign entering its final full week, today?s latest Q1 GDP numbers are likely to act as a reminder of the improvement in the UK economy over the last few quarters, even though we are expecting to see a slowdown from Q4?s 0.6%," writes Hewson.

In the corporate calendar Tuesday, BP releases first-quarter results, while Standard Chartered releases a first-quarter interim management statement due at 0915 BST. St James's Place and Segro issue first quarter interim management statements. Whitbread publishes its full-year results, while Rexam also provides an interim management statement. Aseana and Avocet Mining release full-year results and AB Dyanamics half-year results.

Also in the economic calendar, in the US, the Redbook index is due at 1355 BST and consumer confidence is at 1500 BST.

By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

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