24th Jan 2025 06:56
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Friday, following US President Donald Trump's claim that he will "demand that interest rates drop immediately".
Speaking remotely to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump signalled that he might pressure US Federal Reserve officials on the matter, adding that rates "should be dropping all over the world".
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 6.7 points higher, 0.1%, on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed up 0.2% at 8,565.20 on Thursday.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.2412 early Friday, higher than USD1.2343 at the London equities close on Thursday.
The euro traded at USD1.0466 early Friday, higher than USD1.0409 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY155.39 versus JPY156.02.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.9%, the S&P 500 up 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.2%.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 2.0%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.4%.
Gold was quoted at USD2,76.05 an ounce early Friday, higher than USD2,756.70 on Thursday.
Brent oil was trading at USD78.23 a barrel early Friday, higher than USD78.14 late Thursday.
In Friday's corporate calendar, TheWorks.co.uk releases half-year results. Burberry and Paragon Banking will release trading updates.
In the economic calendar on Friday, there are composite PMI releases from the UK, US, the eurozone, France and Germany.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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