6th Oct 2025 07:00
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Monday, ahead of UK construction data and comments from Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey.
The UK construction purchasing managers' index is due at 0930 BST, with various other regions' PMI data also scheduled for Monday.
However, Pepperstone's Michael Brown commented: "Frankly, I'm not going to place too much weight on the PMI data. Although 'beggars can't be choosers' right now, given the US data vacuum amid the ongoing government shutdown, the PMIs have had a bit of a ropey track record in recent months, over-stating the negative impacts of policy uncertainty compared to the 'hard' data we've been getting."
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open up 9.2 points, 0.1%, on Monday. The index of London large-caps closed up 63.52 points, 0.7%, at 9,491.25 on Friday.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3442 early Monday, lower than USD1.3469 at the London equities close on Friday.
The euro traded at USD1.1715 early Monday, lower than USD1.1741 late Friday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted higher at JPY150.31 versus JPY147.43.
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.5%, the S&P 500 up 0.44 points, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.3%.
In Asia on Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 4.5%.
Conservative Sanae Takaichi hailed a "new era" Saturday after winning the leadership of Japan's ruling party, putting her on course to become the country's first woman prime minister.
The 64-year-old, whose hero is Margaret Thatcher, said that a "mountain of work" lay ahead to restore the fortunes of her ailing Liberal Democratic Party. Parliament is expected to confirm her as prime minister on October 15.
In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.6%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.2%.
Gold was quoted at USD3,931.87 an ounce early Monday, higher than USD3,885.67 on Friday.
"USD3,900/oz did seem like a tough nut to crack for a while," Brown commented, "though now that level has decisively given way, the bulls will quickly look towards USD4,000/oz, especially as the fundamental bull case of reserve allocators diversifying away from the dollar, the risk of inflation expectations un-anchoring, and runaway DM government spending, remains a solid one."
Brent oil was trading at USD65.33 a barrel early Monday, higher than USD64.61 late Friday.
Eight members of Opec+ decided to raise their production quotas by 137,000 barrels per day in November, but the increase was less than many analysts expected.
Also, US President Donald Trump said he expects results this week from talks in Egypt over his peace plan to end the Gaza war, which are set to begin on Monday.
In Monday's corporate calendar, Ferrexpo has a trading update scheduled.
In the economic calendar on Monday, there are construction PMI releases from several other regions including the eurozone, France and Germany.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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