24th Apr 2015 06:00
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are set to open higher Friday, with investors focusing on the updates from blue-chips such as AstraZeneca and Pearson and on the start of the Eurogroup meeting, where the dicussions over the Greek debt are expected to continue.
"Over in Riga, at today?s meeting of European Union finance ministers meeting, expectations of a deal between EU creditors and Greece are virtually nil, with both sides playing down the prospect of any agreement before the end of the month," says Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
However, Hewson writes that European stock markets point to a higher opening given that "optimism of some form of deal does appear to be slowly trickling back...but it still remains fragile given that the Greek government has to pay salaries and pensions by the end of the month, and has only managed to do so by sequestering funds by decree from local governments, pension funds and other publicly owned bodies, in a move that has caused a great deal of controversy within the country, including amongst some of its own supporters."
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 10 points higher 7,063.00. The index closed up 0.4% at 7,053.67, pushed higher by mining stocks, amid a flurry of economic data from Europe and the US.
Wall Street also ended higher Thursday. The DJIA closed up 0.1% and the S&P 500 ended up 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite ended up 0.4%, reaching a new record closing high at 5,056.06, a level it hasn't seen since early 2000.
In Asia on Friday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 trades down 0.8%, and the Hang Seng trades down 0.6%. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite is trading down 1.6%.
In the corporate calendar Friday, AstraZeneca releases first quarter results, while Pearson and Phoenix Group Holdings issue first quarter interim management statements. Reckitt Benckiser Group publishes a first quarter interim statement, while Record and Spectris issue trading statements.
In the economic calendar, the German IFO business climate index is due at 0900 BST.
By Daniel Ruiz; [email protected]
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AstrazenecaPearsonRB..LPhoenix Group HoldingsSpectrisRecord