7th Feb 2025 06:54
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Friday, following a Bank of England rate cut, and ahead of a US jobs report.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 28.4 points lower, 0.3%, at 8,698.88 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed up 103.99 points, 1.2%, at 8,727.28 on Thursday.
The economic calendar for Friday has US nonfarm payrolls data at 1330 GMT.
"Traders are now waiting and positioning for US payrolls data, where slightly dovish expectations are priced into the rates markets, with the data itself carrying a dovish bias. Markets could face some volatility around the data if it beats expectations, but it won't change the path of the FOMC policy as more data will be needed," ActivTrades analyst Anderson Alves commented.
According to FXStreet cited consensus, the report is expected to show US hiring eased to 170,000 at the start of the year, from 256,000 in December.
Over in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% on Thursday. The S&P 500 added 0.4% while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.5%.
The pound fell to USD1.2428 early Friday, from USD1.2444 at the time of the London equities close on Thursday. The euro was largely flat at USD1.0377 from USD1.0375. Against the yen, the dollar slipped to JPY151.71 from JPY151.82.
A barrel of Brent was largely unchanged at USD74.69 from USD74.71. An ounce of gold rose to USD2,862.84 from USD2,851.18.
The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee voted 7 to 2 for the expected quarter-point cut which takes bank rate to 4.50%, from 4.75%.
All members of the MPC backed a cut in interest rates. Two members Swati Dhingra, and previous 'hawk' Catherine Mann, preferred a larger 50 basis points cut, which would have taken base rate to 4.25%.
"My base case remains that the BoE will continue with a predictable pace of 25bp cuts once per quarter, as incoming inflation data simply shan't allow them to cut more aggressively," Pepperstone analyst Michael Brown commented.
In China on Friday, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.7%. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rose 0.8%. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was 0.7% lower and the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.1% lower.
In Friday's UK corporate calendar has half-year results from Ashmore.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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