6th Mar 2025 06:54
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Thursday, while in the US the Federal Reserve's Beige Book saw economic activity rising slightly with an uptick in inflationary pressures.
China had been expected to loom large at high-level economic security talks between Britain and Japan on Friday, until US tariffs reared their head.
Japan is the world's fourth-largest economy, and Britain the sixth. Both are US allies, but that factor is not likely to exempt them from President Donald Trump's sweeping levies on major trading partners.
Joint talks between the countries' foreign and trade ministers in Tokyo this week have been touted as a chance to promote free trade and strengthen business ties in sectors from tech and defence to renewable energy.
The UK and Ireland are set to agree a new programme of enhanced co-operation at a summit in Liverpool.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Taoiseach Micheal Martin will lead delegations of their respective Cabinet colleagues in the first of a new series of annual UK-Ireland summits.
It is expected that they will agree a wide-ranging programme of new and enhanced strategic cooperation between Ireland and the UK, entitled UK-Ireland 2030, to be taken forward by both governments through to 2030.
This is set to include closer collaboration on energy with a new data-sharing programme to enable commercial developers to increase offshore production.
Also, auto makers received a temporary reprieve late Wednesday from US President Donald Trump's tariffs targeting Canada and Mexico, as concerns mounted over consumer impacts and talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yielded no immediate breakthrough.
Following talks with the 'Big Three' US carmakers – Stellantis, Ford and General Motors – Trump decided to "give a one-month exemption on any autos coming through USMCA," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, referring to the North American free trade pact.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 54.9 points higher, 0.6%, at 8,810.74 on Thursday. The index of London large-caps closed marginally lower at 8,755.84 on Wednesday.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.2899 early Thursday, higher than USD1.2863 at the London equities close on Wednesday.
The euro traded at USD1.0802 early Thursday, higher than USD1.0764 late Wednesday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted higher at JPY148.78 versus JPY148.58.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.1%, the S&P 500 up 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.5%.
In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 0.8%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.0%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 2.9%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.6%.
"Asian markets took a bullish cue from the 'Trump Put', bouncing after the administration hit the brakes on [some] tariffs," commented SPI's Stephen Innes. "The Hang Seng Index jumped as much as 2.9%, fueled by speculation that Beijing could roll out fresh stimulus measures at today's joint press conference from key government ministries.
"In a move that underscores China's determination to hit its ambitious growth targets despite trade headwinds, officials set an expansion goal of 5% for 2025—marking the first time in over a decade that Beijing has held the same target for three consecutive years.
"The National People's Congress [NPC] also emphasised technology innovation and domestic consumption, a theme that has propped up market sentiment, particularly in AI stocks, thanks to DeepSeek's latest advancements."
Alibaba shares surged more than eight percent in Hong Kong trade on Thursday after the Chinese tech company launched an artificial intelligence model it says can compete with DeepSeek, this year's surprise tech star.
Investors have been riding high on China's AI capabilities since January, when DeepSeek unveiled a state-of-the-art chatbot seemingly at a fraction of the cost assumed necessary by Western industry leaders.
Alibaba says its newest AI model announced on Thursday morning, called QwQ-32B, has a "comparable performance" to DeepSeek while also requiring far less data to run.
Gold was quoted at USD2,921.40 an ounce early Thursday, lower than USD2,926.93 on Wednesday.
Brent oil was trading at USD69.70 a barrel early Thursday, higher than USD68.38 late Wednesday.
In Thursday's corporate calendar, there are full-year results from many companies including Endeavour Mining, Rentokil Initial and Admiral.
In the economic calendar on Thursday, notable items include the eurozone interest rate decision and US initial jobless claims.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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