FTSE steady at open ahead of manufacturing data

London (AFP) – London’s FTSE 100 index opened steadily at the start of trading on Tuesday after the previous day’s slump and as investors looked ahead to the release of British manufacturing data.

The benchmark blue-chip index dipped 0.01 percent to 6,622.23 points compared with Monday’s closing values.

Traders are awaiting official monthly manufacturing and industrial output figures, due to be released by the Office for National Statistics at 9.30am.

Elsewhere in Europe the Paris CAC 40 index grew 0.18 percent to 4,444.02 points and Frankfurt’s DAX 30 rose 0.15 percent to stand at 9,525.07.

European leading stock markets had tumbled on Monday as investors fretted over the global technology sector, the US interest rate outlook and fresh unrest in Ukraine, dealers said.

Asian stock markets closed mixed on Tuesday following another heavy sell-off on Wall Street, with technology stocks taking a beating, while a stronger yen added to downward pressure on Japan’s Nikkei, traders said.

All three main indices in New York suffered a third session of losses in a row on Monday as big-name tech firms, which had helped last year’s rally, were sold off on concerns they are overvalued.

Among the big US losers on Monday were Apple, Yahoo, Google and LinkedIn.