10th Oct 2025 06:58
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Friday, as UK business confidence remains low and the decline in retail footfall accelerates.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 20.3 points lower, 0.2%, on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed down 0.4% at 9,509.40 on Thursday.
In UK economic news, the British Chambers of Commerce said a survey of 4,600 businesses found confidence and investment levels remain at those seen in 2022.
UK retail footfall was 1.8% lower than a year ago, with the pace of decline accelerating from 0.4% the previous month, according to the British Retail Consortium.
The UK permanent placements index, however, edged up to 44.8 points in September from 44.2 in August. But the UK permanent salaries index fell to 50.2 in September from 50.6 in August, indicating a deceleration of growth.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3312 early Friday, slightly higher than USD1.3305 at the London equities close on Thursday.
The euro traded at USD1.1576 early Friday, slightly higher than USD1.1563 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted lower at JPY152.76 versus JPY153.11.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.5%, the S&P 500 down 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.1%.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 1.0%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was own 1.3%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.1%.
Gold was quoted at 3,975.18 an ounce early Friday, lower than USD4,020.10 on Thursday.
While gold retreated, the price of silver hit a multi-decade high on Thursday as investors kept flocking to safe havens amid geopolitical and economic uncertainty.
Silver topped USD50 an ounce, attaining levels not seen since 1980, according to Bloomberg. It was trading at USD49.74 early on Friday.
Brent oil was trading at USD64.98 a barrel early Friday, lower than USD65.95 late Thursday.
In Friday's corporate calendar, Hays and VP release trading updates.
In the economic calendar on Friday, the morning has Switzerland's consumer confidence data and Italian industrial production.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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