London pre-open: FTSE seen steady after record close as gold, silver prices recover

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set for a flat open on Tuesday, having closed at a record high in the previous session, as gold and silver prices recovered from their recent heavy selloff.

The FTSE was called to open steady at 10,341.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said: "Monday ended up being a better session for US and European markets than for Asian ones. By the time Europeans came to their desks, the slump in gold and silver prices was largely over. Precious metals were already licking their wounds and starting to feel better, as buyers stepped in to rebuild exposure on a dip - a dip close to the 50-DMA for both metals.

"For gold, the 50-DMA stands more than 20% below last Thursday's peak, and for silver it is nearly 40% below last week's peak.

"In both cases, it was the 50-DMA that revived the urge to buy. So we have an early answer to a complex question: we still don't know whether this marks the end of the metals debacle, but dip-buyers clearly re-emerge when gold and silver move below their 50-DMA levels.

"The gold volatility index, meanwhile, is cooling - a sign that support near these 50-DMAs could hold. Metals are up again this morning in Asia. Gold trades above $4,800 at the time of writing, while silver consolidates near $83 per ounce, above the critical 38.2% Fibonacci retracement that separates the past years' bullish trend from a bearish consolidation zone."

In corporate news, AG Barr said it had bought soft drinks maker Fentimans and juice producer Frobishers as it looked to cash in on the fall in alcohol consumption by consumers.

The Irn-Bru owner bought Fentimans for �38m. No financial details on the Frobishers purchase were disclosed.

AG Barr added that full-year results were expected to be in line with expectations as revenue jumped 4% to �437m with double-digit profit growth.

Elsewhere, budget carrier Wizz Air posted an 8.5% yearonyear rise in passenger numbers in January, carrying 5.35m travellers, as capacity increased 10.5% to 6.34m seats, resulting in a load factor of 84.4%.

The firm said it had also passed a major milestone during the month, surpassing 500m cumulative passengers, as it expanded its network to 1,000 routes across 200 destinations in more than 50 countries.