13th Mar 2025 06:47
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open slightly lower on Thursday, after mixed trade in Asia, while tech shares in New York rose overnight, fuelled by a cooler-than-expected US inflation print.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 3.5 points lower, largely flat, at 8,537.47 on Thursday. The index of London large-caps closed up 44.98 points, 0.5%, at 8,540.97 on Wednesday.
The pound faded to USD1.2957 early Thursday, from USD1.2978 at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday. The euro slipped to USD1.0880 from USD1.0914. Against the yen, the dollar fell to JPY147.61 from JPY148.32.
A barrel of Brent slipped slightly to USD70.72 from USD70.87. Gold traded at USD2,937.81 an ounce, up slightly from USD2,935.01.
In Asia on Thursday, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 slipped slightly. The Shanghai Composite was 0.4% lower, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was down 0.9%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney lost 0.5%.
In New York on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%, but the S&P 500 added 0.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 1.2%.
"The S&P 500 closed higher, fuelled by a softer-than-expected inflation print, giving traders the green light to ease back into beaten-down tech stocks and sending the Nasdaq soaring 1%. The immediate read-through? The takeaway? The stagflation narrative hanging over markets just got watered down, restoring some degree of breathing room for the Fed—a stark contrast to the alternative scenario where a hotter CPI would have slammed risk sentiment and forced another leg lower," SPI Asset Management analyst Stephen Innes commented.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US consumer prices rose 2.8% on-year in February, cooling from a 3.0% rise in January. The figure was shy of the FXStreet-cited consensus, which pencilled in a 2.9% yearly increase in consumer prices.
The pace of US consumer price inflation had accelerated for four months in a row, after sitting at 2.4% in September.
"But let's be clear—this isn't a free pass to rally unchallenged. The real question now is how far Trump is willing to push on tariffs and government cuts. The idea that he's deliberately trying to engineer a recession seems like a stretch. Still, with April 2's reciprocal tariff D-Day looming, traders would be foolish to dismiss his resolve to re-write global trade," Innes added.
Still to come on Thursday is US jobless claims data and a producer price reading at 1230 GMT. The eurozone industrial production at 1000 GMT.
Thursday's UK corporate calendar has a trading statement from Halma and full-year results from Trainline and Deliveroo.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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