Greater London, England -- (SBWire) -- 03/14/2011 -- Joshua Raymond, Market Strategist at City Index (http://www.cityindex.co.uk/), provides insight into the market activity that shaped spread betting and CFD trading on March 2nd:
European Indices sell off in late trading on Saudi Arabia
Spread betting and CFD trading provider City Index offer a daily overview of the factors affecting the market. Today, Head of Equities Giles Watts provides a market commentary.
ìEuropean Indices fell as much as 1% in late trading as traders fretted about protests in the Middle East spreading to Saudi Arabia.
Those fears helped to spike crude oil prices higher by 1.5% and convince traders to leave risky asset classes and cash in profits early after the small Index recovery from last Thursday.
Traders remain particularly sensitive to any escalation in violence and instability in North Africa and the Middle East, but with reports of growing tension and protests in Saudi Arabia, this has knocked the wind from the FTSE 100ís sails today, forcing equities lower.
Make no mistake that whilst instability in North Africa is a deep concern, should Saudi Arabia start to experience similar problems to that of Libya, it is a completely different ball game and could have huge consequences for the price of crude oil. This is why traders remain on edge a bit and the early reports emanating from the region of growing protests aligned with the fact that the Saudi Arabian Index, the Tadawul All Share Index, has lost some 6% today has ignited those fears somewhat.
It is those concerns on the Middle East that have clouded data from the US that showed ISM Manufacturing grew at its fastest pace in almost 7 years. The Index of national factory activity rose to 61.4 in February from 60.8 in January, beating market expectations of 61.0. Countering this however, US construction spending declined more than the market had expected, falling 0.7% to an annual rate of $791.82bn. The market has been expecting a fall of some 0.4% in spending.
Comments from Ben Bernanke, the Fed Chairman, who continued to tell a story of an anaemic US labour market reaffirming grounds for Fed support, along with a surprise jump in UK house prices helped to push the pound sterling to a new 13 month high against the US dollar. A stronger than expected reading in UK Purchasing Managers Index also supported gains for the UK pound, with traders beginning to price in a UK interest rate hike potentially in early summer.î
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Today more and more individual traders are discovering the benefits of derivatives, and many of them are discovering them through a City Index trading platform.
As a group, we transact in excess of 1.5 million trades every month for individuals in over 50 countries worldwide. We provide access to a wide range of instruments including margined foreign exchange, contracts for differences (CFDs) and, in the UK, spread betting.
We constantly look to widen the range of assets we offer, improve the performance of our platforms and expand the range of services we provide. The result is that our customers benefit from innovative trading tools with transparent pricing, competitive spreads, and a high standard of customer service and support. Visit http://www.cityindex.co.uk/ for more information.
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Spread betting and CFD trading are leveraged products which can result in losses greater than your initial deposit. Ensure you fully understand the risks.
About City Index
Today more and more individual traders are discovering the benefits of derivatives, and many of them are discovering them through a City Index trading platform.
As a group, we transact in excess of 1.5 million trades every month for individuals in over 50 countries worldwide. We provide access to a wide range of instruments including margined foreign exchange, CFD trading (http://www.cityindex.co.uk/cfd-trading/) and, in the UK, financial spread betting (http://www.cityindex.co.uk/spread-betting/).
We constantly look to widen the range of assets we offer, improve the performance of our platforms and expand the range of services we provide. The result is that our customers benefit from innovative trading tools with transparent pricing, competitive spreads, and a high standard of customer service and support. For more information, visit http://www.cityindex.co.uk/.
Spread Betting News - European Indices Sell off in Late Trading on Saudi Arabia