13th Jun 2025 06:54
(Alliance News) - London's FTSE 100 is called to open lower on Friday, while oil and gold prices surged after Israel struck Iran's nuclear programme on Friday.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 48.0 points lower, 0.5%, at 8,836.92 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed up 20.57 points, 0.2%, at 8,884.92.
The IDF said the attack was in response to the Iranian regime's ongoing aggression against Israel. Dozens of jets struck military targets in various locations of Iran in a first stage, the IDF said. Iran vowed a "strong response".
"The armed forces will certainly respond to this Zionist attack," said Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman for the general staff of the armed forces, adding that Israel "will pay a heavy price and should await strong response from the Iranian armed forces."
A barrel of Brent jumped to USD74.79 early Friday, from USD69.66 at the time of the London equities close on Thursday. Gold rose to USD3,422.21 an ounce from USD3,388.71.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury narrowed to 4.34% from 4.38%. The 30-year yield slimmed to 4.83% from 4.87%.
Sterling fell to USD1.3537 from USD1.3586, the euro declined to USD1.1528 from USD1.1575 and against the yen, the dollar bought JPY143.69, largely unmoved from JPY143.71.
"The Middle East powder keg just blew the lid off global markets," SPI Asset Management analyst Stephen Innes commented.
"Equity futures are plummeting. Bond yields are sinking. Gold and oil are skyrocketing. Brent crude futures are racing toward the mid-USD70s range—but if the Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for 20% of global oil flows, finds itself in the blast radius, you can add another USD15 to the bid."
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was 1.1% lower in afternoon trade. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.8%, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was 0.9% lower. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.3%.
In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%, the S&P 500 added 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.2%. But US equity futures were sharply lower, with the Dow down 1.4%, S&P 1.5% lower and the Nasdaq down 1.8%.
Friday's economic calendar has a German consumer price inflation reading at 0700 BST, before eurozone industrial production figures at 1000.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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