12th Dec 2024 06:53
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Thursday, ahead of a European Central Bank interest rate decision, while US stocks ended in the green overnight after a US inflation reading.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 18.0 points higher, 0.2%, at 8,319.62 on Thursday. The index of London large-caps closed up 21.26 points, 0.3%, at 8,301.62 on Wednesday.
Sterling rose to USD1.2764 early Thursday, from USD1.2746 at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday. The euro climbed to USD1.0505 from USD1.0490, while against the yen, the dollar faded to JPY152.37 from JPY152.49.
An ounce of gold slipped to USD2,711.64 from USD2,716.47. A barrel of Brent rose to USD73.66 from USD73.05.
The economic calendar sees interest rate decisions by the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank. US weekly jobless claims figures are due at 1330 GMT.
Pepperstone analyst Michael Brown commented: "'ECB Day' is upon us, with Lagarde & Co set to deliver another 25bp deposit rate cut this lunchtime, while reiterating the longstanding data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting guidance, refusing to pre-commit to a particular future policy path. Key for the direction of the EUR will be comments from Lagarde, or post-meeting sources reports, as to whether a larger 50bp cut was discussed, and the likelihood of such a move at coming meetings."
The last monetary policy meeting of the ECB took place in October. The ECB cut interest rates by 25 basis points at its October meeting. It took the interest rates on the deposit facility, the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility to 3.25%, 3.40% and 3.65% respectively.
In New York on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2%, but the S&P 500 added 0.8% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite powered 1.8% higher.
Numbers showed the pace of US consumer price inflation picked up to 2.7% in November, from 2.6% in October.
ActivTrades analyst Anderson Alves commented: "This data solidified the likelihood of a widely anticipated 25 basis-point rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week. Market pricing for the rate cut surged to a 96% probability, up from 82% prior to the data release."
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 surged 1.5%. The Shanghai Composite in China was up 0.7%, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was up 1.6%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney lost 0.2%.
Thursday's UK corporate calendar sees a trading statement from miner Anglo American and half-year results from electricals retailer Currys.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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