25th Feb 2014 07:35
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks are set to open marginally lower Tuesday as Monday's late afternoon rally loses momentum.
Following a late spurt that saw the UK's leading share index close at its highest level in more than 14 years, spreadbetters are indicating that the FTSE 100 will open down 0.2% at 6,850.00.
The late surge in UK stocks was fuelled by a strong open on Wall street. The S&P 500 pushed up to a new intraday high of 1,858.71. The index closed at 1,847.61, up 0.6% Monday. The DJIA and the Nasdaq Composite both made similar gains.
That positivity fed into Asian markets, excluding China. The Nikkei is up 1.4% and the Hang Seng is up 0.1%, but the Shanghai Composite is down 2.1%.
Europe provides the early data focus for markets, with few surprises so far as the final reading of German GDP has confirmed the preliminary estimate - that Europe's biggest economy grew at 0.4% in the fourth-quarter of 2013, and a rate of 1.3% over the year as a whole.
Still to come before the equity markets open, a French business climate survey at 0745 GMT which is expected remain unchanged between January and February to record 100. Italian consumer confidence and retail sales data follows at 0900 GMT.
From the UK, the latest BBA mortgage approvals data is due at 0930 GMT, followed by the inflation report hearings at 1100 GMT.
With a quiet domestic data calendar, the mortgage approvals may attract more interest than usual. "The report is expected to show that housing activity continues to remain buoyant reflecting the firmer reading from the RICS survey", said economists at Lloyds Bank in a morning note to clients. The expectation is for a reading of 47,900 for January, up from 46,500 in December.
Later in the morning, the Confederation of British Industry distributive trades survey in due at 1100 GMT. Economists expect the survey of short-term retail trends to have ticked up slightly to 15 in February, from 14 in January.
In the afternoon, the US consumer confidence survey for February is due at 1500 GMT and is expected to fall slightly to 80.0 in February, from 80.7 in January.
The pound and the euro remain stable against the dollar ahead of the further data releases, currently trading at USD1.6665 and USD1.3745 respectively.
Preliminary full-year results have already been announced Tuesday from Ladbrokes, Persimmon, GKN and St James's Place PLC. Ashmore Group have also reported interims, along with Genus and Dechra Pharmaceuticals.
By Jon Darby; [email protected]; @jondarby100
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