11th Apr 2025 06:53
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Friday, while the UK government hopes for a deal to soften the blow of US tariffs.
It would take an "extraordinary deal" for the UK to improve on the 10% tariff Donald Trump has placed on the country, an adviser to the US president suggested.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer earlier rejected the suggestion that the US president is not taking his calls and denied that the UK's approach of not retaliating to the US tariffs had resulted in no advantage for the UK, as most nations now face the same tariff rate.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open up 70.5 points, 0.9%, on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed up 3.0% at 7,913.25 on Thursday.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3003 early Friday, higher than USD1.2965 at the London equities close on Thursday.
The euro traded at USD1.1280 early Friday, higher than USD1.1195 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted lower at JPY143.66 versus JPY144.41.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 2.5%, the S&P 500 down 3.5% and the Nasdaq Composite down 4.3%.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 3.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1.4%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 1.2%.
Gold was quoted at USD3,194.25 an ounce early Friday, higher than USD3,069.25 on Thursday.
Brent oil was trading at USD63.84 a barrel early Friday, higher than USD63.32 late Thursday.
In Friday's corporate calendar, there are no events scheduled.
In the economic calendar on Friday, the US has PPI and the UK has trade balance data.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to [email protected]
Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.