12th Sep 2014 06:27
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks are set to open a little higher Friday following the release of the latest opinion poll on Scottish independence, which also caused a spike in the pound as it showed a small swing back in favour of the "No" campaign just six days before the crucial referendum.
Futures markets indicate that the FTSE 100 will open 12 points higher Friday at 6,812.
UK stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the natural resource-heavy London market weighed down by a slump in commodity prices and a dip in Chinese inflation to 2.0%. The decision by EU governments to implement their latest round of sanction against Russia, despite the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine appearing to be holding, also weighed on sentiment towards the end of the session.
US markets went on to close mixed, with the DJIA ending just 0.1% higher, the S&P 500 just 0.1% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite 0.1% higher.
In the Asian session, the Nikkei has closed up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng is trading down 0.3% and the Shanghai Composite is up 0.3%.
Despite the new Russia sanctions coming into effect Friday, UK stocks look set to regain a little ground at the open as investors focus on a new poll from YouGov released overnight that may ease concerns a little in the run up to the September 18 referendum in Scotland.
The new survey showed "No" votes were leading by a margin of 52% to 48%, giving the "Better Together" camp a 4 point lead, which is a slight swing back in favour of the union compared with other polls released earlier in the week.
"Businesses are clearly and understandably rattled by the prospect of a breakup of the UK so it will be of some relief that YouGov?s latest survey for has switched back in favour of ?No? on 52% but it?s still very tight and doesn?t leave much room for complacency," said CMC Markets market analyst Jasper Lawler.
The pound spiked more than half a cent against the dollar to USD1.6277 on release of the poll results at 2200 BST Thursday, its highest level of the week against the dollar. Sterling has lost a little ground since, and in the run up to the open of the equity markets trades at USD1.6225.
Commodity prices remain at subdued levels after hitting multi-month lows on Thursday. Ahead of the equity market open, gold trades at USD1,236.25 per ounce, and Brent oil trades at USD97.90 per barrel.
The day ahead looks relatively quiet in terms of scheduled events, with no UK data of note. US retail sales data for August provides the data highlight at 1330 BST, where economists are looking for a 0.6% month-on-month rise following flat growth in July.
Eurozone industrial production data for July is due at 1000 BST. Analysts expect an increase in production of 0.5% over the month, reversing the 0.3% fall recorded in June.
FTSE 250-listed UK pub chain JD Wetherspoon has released its full year results Friday, showing a steady 5.5% rise in like-for-like sales. While the big financial institutions have been laying out plans to move south of the border in the event of a Scottish vote for independence, Wetherspoons founder Tim Martin seemed to have no problem with the issue Friday. "They might even reduce VAT," he said "We'd be laughing".
By Jon Darby; [email protected]; @jondarby100
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