9th Apr 2015 06:00
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks are set to open higher Thursday after minutes from the most recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed members split on whether the US central bank should raise rates in June.
The minutes of the two-day FOMC meeting, held in March, showed that several participants determined that the economic data and outlook were likely to warrant the beginning of the process of raising rates in June.
However, others said conditions would not be appropriate to begin raising rates until later in the year due to the effects lower energy prices and the dollar's appreciation have on inflation.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 20.4 points higher at 6,957.8. The index closed down 0.4% at 6,937.41 on Wednesday with most of the focus on Royal Dutch Shell's takeover of fellow oil and gas company BG Group.
Wall Street closed higher on Wednesday buoyed by the Fed minutes. The DJIA ended up 0.2%, the S&P 500 closed up 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.8%.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei is trading up 0.7%, the Hang Seng is up 3.3%, while the Shanghai Composite trades down 0.8%.
In the corporate calendar, there is a fourth quarter trading statement from food producer Cranswick and an interim management statement from consumer products company PZ Cussons. There are also trading updates from bonding materials supplier Scapa Group, high-performance polymer company Victrex and UK Mail Group. Interactive gaming company NetPlayTV reports full-year results.
In the economic calendar, there is German industrial production and trade balances data at 0700 BST, ahead of UK trade balances data at 0930 BST. Later in the day the focus will be on the Bank of England's interest rate decision at 1200 BST. US weekly initial and continuing jobless claims are at 1330 BST.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]; @NeilThakrar1
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
CranswickVictrexSCPA.LUKM.LPz CussonsNPT.LBG..L