The UK market is in negative territory in afternoon trading Tuesday amid concerns that the European Central Bank's bond-buying plan might be jeopardized by a court ruling on the legality of the the European Stability Mechanism. The Asian markets ended mostly lower, ahead of the FOMC meeting.
Germany's Federal Constitutional Court said today that it would not delay its keenly awaited ruling on the European Stability Mechanism, while rejecting a last-minute bid by a German lawmaker to postpone the judgment.
Reports said the top court in Karlsruhe would pronounce its ruling on the bailout fund and the fiscal compact for budget discipline at 0800 GMT on Wednesday, as originally planned, after rejecting a petition for a temporary injunction by Peter Gauweiler, a member of Parliament.
Gauweiler has said in a statement that the fund should not be ratified until the European Central Bank revokes its bond-buying plan.
Europe still has a "long way to go" in resolving its debt crisis, International Monetary Fund Deputy Managing Director Zhu Min reportedly said. "The crisis is not over," he was quoted as saying during a speech at the World Economic Forum in the Chinese port city of Tianjin. "We are still in the middle" and "there is a long way to go," he said.
Germany's wholesale price inflation accelerated for the second consecutive month in August, data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed. The wholesale price index increased 3.1 percent on an annual basis in August, faster than the 2 percent growth seen in July.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is falling 0.33 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is losing 0.08 percent.
The FTSE 100 index is falling 0.41 percent.
Burberry is plunging 18.6 percent after issuing a profit warning.
Anglo American and Antofagasta are retreating 4.2 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.
Royal Bank of Scotland is advancing 1.6 percent and British American Tobacco is gaining 1.5 percent.
IG Group is rising 4.7 percent. The firm reported first-quarter revenues in line with its expectations.
Elsewhere in Europe, the German DAX is losing 0.12 percent and the French CAC 40 is falling 0.46 percent. Switzerland's SMI is declining 0.50 percent.
Across Asia/Pacific, Australia's All Ordinaries slid 0.2 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.7 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 0.7 percent. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.15 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a higher open ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting. In the previous session, apprehension ahead of the Federal Reserve's upcoming monetary policy meeting contributed to weakness on Wall Street. The major averages ended the day firmly in negative territory.
In the commodity space, crude for October delivery is losing $0.04 to $96.50 per barrel and December gold is advancing $2.9 to $1734.7 a troy ounce.
by RTT Staff Writer
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