Antofagasta suspends operations in Atacama Desert

London open

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open broadly flat on Thursday's close of 6,895.33.

Stocks to watch

Copper mining group Antofagasta has been forced to call a halt to mining activities in the north of Chile due to heavy rain. Since Tuesday evening, flash floods in the Atacama Desert in the north of Chile have wreaked havoc across the region, where Antofagasta's Centinela, Antucoya and Michilla mines are located. The group is currently assessing the impact of the rain on operations but said things should return to normal "as soon as the situation improves".

Barratt Developments chief executive Mark Clare has stepped down after nine years in the role, to be replaced by finance director David Thomas. Clare will leave the company on 1 July, leaving the group in fine fettle, with recent interim profits up by over 70%, well ahead of expectations.

Vodafone has teamed up with the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTCL) to unveil a new partner market agreement for Botswana. In the agreements, BTCL will become Vodafone’s preferred partner in Botswana and the companies will jointly offer new products and services in the region.

In the press

Greece has rushed to complete a list of economic overhauls to satisfy creditors by Monday, wrote The Wall Street Journal.

Polls show that David Cameron won the first televised leader debate against Ed Miliband by 54% to 46%, according to The Guardian.

Reports have slated the UK Financial Conduct Authority for a ‘shocking misstep’ around a media briefing in 2014 that caused huge volatility in life insurance company shares, The Wall Street Journal reported.

US close

US stocks closed slightly lower on Thursday, recovering from steeper declines made earlier in the day as a result of conflict in the Middle East and underwhelming data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.23% lower at 17,678 while the S&P500 index fell 0.24% to 2,056. The S&P500 has now erased its gains for 2015 so far after three years of booking annual double-digit gains. The NASDAQ closed 0.27% lower at 4,863.

A better-than-expected report on jobless claims failed to offset recent concerns of a sluggish economy during the first quarter.

Weekly initial jobless claims falling by 9,000 to 282,000 in the week ending 21 March, which in turn pushed US government bonds lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was at 2.01%, compared with 1.93% on Wednesday.