12th Jun 2026 06:51
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Friday, as US President Donald Trump claimed a deal with Iran could be signed in days as he cancelled threatened strikes.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open up 81.2 points, 0.8%, at 10,385.08 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed up 49.07 points, 0.5%, at 10,303.88 on Thursday.
Sterling was at USD1.3400 on Friday morning, up from USD1.3342 at the London equities close on Thursday. Against the euro, sterling rose to EUR1.1584 from EUR1.1578.
The euro was higher at USD1.1564 from USD1.1522. Against the yen, the dollar fell to JPY160.30 from JPY160.48.
US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat of further strikes against Iran and said a deal with Tehran to end the war could be signed in coming days.
Trump said the finer points of the arrangement had been approved by the US and its allies in the region, including Israel.
However, Iran's position remained unclear, with foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei saying Tehran "had not reached a final conclusion on the agreement."
The Tasnim news agency noted that Trump had announced a deal was imminent 38 times in the previous two months.
Later Trump doubled down, telling reporters "I understand the answer is yes," when asked if Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had approved the deal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the Israeli leader spoke to Trump, who vowed any memorandum of understanding would include the removal of Tehran's enriched nuclear material as well as dismantling of missile infrastructure.
In response, Brent crude was trading lower at USD88.13 a barrel on Friday morning from USD92.95 on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk's SpaceX confirmed it will begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange on Friday in the biggest initial public offering in history, a blockbuster market debut that could propel the entrepreneur to trillionaire status.
In a filing with the US markets regulator, the company priced more than 555 million shares at USD135 each, placing SpaceX among Wall Street's most elite companies with a valuation of just under USD1.8 trillion.
The offering will raise a record USD75 billion, easily outranking Saudi Aramco's USD29.4 billion debut in 2019, until now the biggest ever.
Underwriters hold an option to buy nearly 83 million additional shares, which would push the total above USD86 billion if exercised in full.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.9%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.8% while the Nasdaq Composite surged 2.5%.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was up 3.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 1.4% higher, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 1.9%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney advanced 1.8%.
Back in the UK, buyer demand for properties rose in early June after a decline during May's period of unusually hot weather, online property portal Rightmove reported.
Rightmove said buyer demand fell by an unseasonal 8% over the week, starting May 22, when the heatwave began. It said potential buyers were temporarily putting off booking viewing appointments, preferring to "either soak in or take shelter from the heat."
From June 1, as temperatures cooled and buyers started booking more viewings, Rightmove said buyer demand began to increase again. By June 6, activity had returned to "normal, seasonal trends," with demand exceeding pre-heatwave levels.
Gold was higher at USD4,176.78 an ounce early on Friday from USD4,079.75 late Thursday.
Friday's local corporate calendar has half year results from Jersey Electricity.
Friday's global economic calendar sees French and German CPI reports and UK GDP, trade balance and industrial production data.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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