6th Mar 2026 06:58
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Friday, at the end of a week of airstrikes in the Middle East and following the latest UK retail data.
UK retail footfall fell sharply in February as heavy rainfall kept shoppers at home, reversing the modest improvement seen at the start of the year, according to industry data from the British Retail Consortium.
Figures from the BRC and Sensormatic showed total UK footfall declined 4.7% year-on-year in the four weeks to February 28, worsening from a 0.6% fall in January.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open up 56.2 points, 0.5%, on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed down 1.5% at 10,413.94 on Thursday.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3363 early Friday, higher than USD1.3309 at the London equities close on Thursday.
The euro traded at USD1.1606 early Friday, higher than USD1.1574 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY157.88, higher versus JPY157.67.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.6%, the S&P 500 down 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.3%.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1.6%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 1.0%.
Gold was quoted at USD5,118.00 an ounce early Friday, higher than USD5,075.16 on Thursday.
Brent oil was trading at USD85.06 a barrel early Friday, higher than USD84.41 late Thursday.
Intense Israeli airstrikes pounded the capitals of Iran and Lebanon early on Friday with the US apparently striking an Iranian drone carrier at sea, intensifying its campaign targeting the Islamic Republic's fleet of warships.
Iran launched new retaliatory attacks in the Middle East at the end of a full week of bombardment, which US defence secretary Pete Hegseth warned was "about to surge dramatically". Early on Friday, Iran fired missile and drone attacks into Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, all countries that host US forces.
In Friday's corporate calendar, IMI reports full-year results.
In the economic calendar on Friday, first up are German factory orders and the UK house price index by Halifax, with eurozone GDP to follow.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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