9th Apr 2026 06:52
(Alliance News) - London's FTSE 100 is set to extend gains on Thursday, but trade in Asia was largely weaker and European peers are called to open lower.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 47.0 points higher, 0.5%, at 10,655.88 on Thursday. The index of London large-caps closed up 260.09 points, 2.5% at 10,608.88 Wednesday.
Frankfurt's DAX 40 is called down 0.3% and the CAC 40 in Paris down 0.2%.
The FTSE 100's constituents, including oil majors Shell and BP, have meant it has been more resilient in the face of the Middle East conflict than its European peers. It has lost 2.8% since the onset of the war, while the CAC has shed 3.7% and the DAX has lost 4.8%.
It does, however, mean that when relief rallies do come, the European peers make larger strides. The DAX jumped 5.1% on Wednesday and the Paris blue-chip benchmark surged 4.5%.
In Tokyo on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 was down 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.7% lower, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong shed 0.3%. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 was flat in late trade.
A barrel of Brent rose to USD96.86 early Thursday, from USD95.20 at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that US forces deployed near Iran would remain stationed in the area until a "real agreement" is reached, as Washington enters a fragile two-week ceasefire with Tehran.
The truce reached Tuesday showed signs of unravelling, with Israel bombarding Lebanon and Washington contradicting some of Iran's demands to end the war ahead of planned talks.
Against the dollar, sterling fell to USD1.3395 on Thursday from USD1.3438 late Wednesday. Against the euro, it declined to EUR1.1485 from EUR1.1495.
Against the dollar, the single currency faded to USD1.1663 from USD1.1690. Versus the yen, the buck traded at JPY158.81, up from JPY158.39.
Thursday's global economic calendar includes US GDP and personal consumption expenditures data at 1330 BST, as well as trade and industrial production figures in Germany at 0700.
Federal Reserve officials said they will need to stay "nimble" as they weigh the impact of the Middle East crisis on the US economy, minutes on Wednesday showed.
In the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's March meeting, officials highlighted two-sided risks to monetary policy from the conflict.
While most participants raised the concern that a protracted conflict in the Middle East could lead to a further softening in labour market conditions, which could warrant additional rate cuts, some put the case for rate hikes.
"Some participants judged that there was a strong case for a two-sided description of the committee's future interest-rate decisions in the post-meeting statement, reflecting the possibility that upward adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate could be appropriate if inflation were to remain at above-target levels," the minutes said.
Overall, officials emphasised the importance of being "nimble" in adjusting the stance of policy in response to incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.
Officials said it was too early to know how developments in the Middle East would affect the US economy and judged it "prudent" to continue to monitor the situation.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury stretched to 4.29% early Thursday from 4.27% on Wednesday. The 30-year widened to 4.89% from 4.86%.
Gold declined to USD4,723.91 an ounce from USD4,753.65.
Thursday's domestic corporate calendar has full-year results from Metlen Energy & Metals.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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