2nd May 2025 06:58
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Friday, after Beijing claimed it is evaluating a US offer for negotiations on tariffs but wants Washington to show "sincerity".
Beijing's commerce ministry confirmed on Friday that the US had reached out and that it was "currently evaluating" the offer. "If the US wants to talk, it should show its sincerity to do so, be prepared to correct its wrong practices and cancel unilateral tariffs," the ministry said.
Also, Japan's envoy for tariff talks in Washington said that the second round of negotiations between the two countries had been "frank and constructive".
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open up 52.6 points, 0.6%, on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed marginally higher at 8,496.80 on Thursday.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3318 early Friday, higher than USD1.3283 at the London equities close on Thursday.
Nigel Farage's Reform UK has secured victory by six votes over Labour in Runcorn & Helsby as Keir Starmer failed his first by-election test as UK prime minister.
The narrow victory for new MP Sarah Pochin saw Reform taking a constituency which Labour won with a majority of almost 14,700 less than 12 months ago.
The result came as Reform made gains against both Labour and the Conservatives across England in local contests, with Farage claiming a "big moment" was taking place in politics.
The euro traded at USD1.1310 early Friday, higher than USD1.1274 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted lower at JPY145.23 versus JPY145.50.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.2%, the S&P 500 up 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.5%.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 1.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was closed for Labor Day on Friday, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1.7%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 1.0%.
Gold was quoted at USD3,254.64 an ounce early Friday, lower than USD3,311.72 on Thursday.
Brent oil was trading at USD62.38 a barrel early Friday, higher than USD61.38 late Thursday.
In Friday's corporate calendar, there are first-quarter results from Shell and NatWest.
Standard Chartered already released results.
The London-based lender reported higher profit for the first quarter of 2025, supported by broad-based income growth across wealth management, global markets and banking, despite increased credit impairments.
Standard Chartered said pretax profit rose 13% to USD2.10 billion in the three months to March 31 from USD1.91 billion a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share climbed 21% to 55.1 cents from 45.4 cents.
Underlying net interest income rose 5.3% to USD2.80 billion from USD2.66 billion.
In the economic calendar on Friday is US nonfarm payrolls and eurozone consumer price inflation.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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