7th Mar 2025 06:55
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Friday, while the EU has committed to bolstering its defences by making hundreds of billions of euros available for spending on security.
The agreement comes after US President Donald Trump's repeated warnings that he would cut them adrift to face the threat of Russia alone.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open down 48.1 points, 0.6%, at 8,634.74 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed down 0.8% at 8,682.84 on Thursday.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.2892 early Friday, a bit higher than USD1.2890 at the London equities close on Thursday.
The euro traded at USD1.0822 early Friday, slightly lower than USD1.0827 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted lower at JPY147.54 versus JPY148.10.
Thursday's European Central Bank policy meeting saw a 25 basis points interest rate cut, as expected.
"A victory for the hawks, here, with...an implicit nod towards the possibility of a slower pace of cuts going forwards, particularly with the deposit rate now at the top end of where neutral may sit," noted Pepperstone's Michael Brown.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.0%, the S&P 500 down 1.8% and the Nasdaq Composite down 2.6%.
The US has delayed some tariffs on Canada and Mexico, leading Ottawa to halt an upcoming wave of countermeasures, although Trump dismissed suggestions that his decisions were linked to recent market turmoil.
A White House official told reporters that about 62% of Canadian imports will still face the new tariffs, although much of these are energy products hit by a lower rate of 10%.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 2.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.4%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 1.8%.
Gold was quoted at USD2,912.40 an ounce early Friday, lower than USD2,916.75 on Thursday.
Brent oil was trading at USD69.48 a barrel early Friday, higher than USD68.84 late Thursday.
In Friday's corporate calendar, Just Group releases full-year results.
In the economic calendar on Friday, there are comments from ECB President Christine Lagarde and nonfarm payrolls from the US.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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