Reuters: Hot Stocks: Britain's FTSE steadies after worst day in a year

Reuters: Hot Stocks Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Britain's FTSE steadies after worst day in a year Jun 6th 2013, 10:05 Thu Jun 6, 2013 6:05am EDT * FTSE 100 steadies after worst day in a year * 6,400 level seen as key technical support * Johnson Matthey top riser as U.S. market boosts results By Toni Vorobyova LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - Britain's blue chip shares steadied on Thursday, finding some technical support after steep losses in the previous session and cheered by better than expected results at specialty chemicals group Johnson Matthey . Investors were not expecting any new measures from monthly meetings of the Bank of England or the European Central Bank, leaving the market's focus firmly on key U.S. jobs data due on Friday. With recent market weakness fuelled by concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve could soon begin to unwind its monetary stimulus, a weak employment report could prove a positive for equities by reducing the chances of such a policy move. "It's a very tight range on the FTSE ... We are waiting to see what happens with regards to the BoE and the ECB, which is nothing probably, so then it will all hinge on the non-farm payrolls on Friday," said Brenda Kelly, strategist at IG. "A bad number could actually see us pare back some of those losses." The FTSE 100 was flat at 6,419.47 points at 0940 GMT after slumping 0.5 percent in the previous session - its biggest one-day fall in a year, during which it broke through several key technical levels before finally finding support. "We have fallen below the 50- and 100-day moving averages, which is in a way quite bearish, but we are finding support at 6,400 (points) so if that fails it opens up the way for a bigger correction and you could see the 6,320 level," said Kelly at IG. Johnson Matthey was by far the biggest gainer, up 7.6 percent after the world's largest maker of catalysts to control car emissions reported a smaller-than-expected drop in profit, helped by a recovering U.S. market. Exposure to U.S.-focused companies remains a popular theme while the British and euro zone economies struggle, with a weaker pound also helping boost returns at companies which make their money abroad. "The companies that are exposed to the U.S., like Ashtead , are still reporting pretty well and are seeing upgrades," said Colin Morton, managing director at SVM Asset Management. "I still prefer the UK (to the euro zone) because the currency ... is likely to weaken," he added, noting engineering company Weir as a possible beneficiary. (Editing by Catherine Evans) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions