9th Mar 2015 07:00
LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks are set to open lower Monday, as investors continue to fear an earlier-than-expected US Federal Reserve rate hike, following Friday's strong US jobs report.
The US Labor Department said Friday non-farm payroll employment jumped by 295,000 jobs in February, following a downwardly revised increase of 239,000 jobs in January. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 230,000 jobs compared with the addition of 257,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 32.5 points lower at 6,879.3. The index closed down 0.7% at 6,911.80 Friday.
Wall Street ended lower Friday, with the DJIA closing down 1.5%, the S&P 500 down 1.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite falling 1.1%.
In Asia Monday, the Japanese Nikkei is down 1.0%, while the Hang Seng trades up 0.1%, and the Shanghai Composite is up 2.0%.
In the UK corporate calendar, full-year results are expected from advertising giant WPP, UK and Continental European property investment company Hansteen Holdings, shipping services group Clarkson, and private equity investment trust HgCapital Trust.
In the economic calendar, there is German balance of trade data at 0700 GMT and US labour market conditions index at 1400 GMT. A Eurogroup meeting will discuss the next steps following the decision to extend financial assistance to Greece for four months.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]; @NeilThakrar1
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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