BPTY.L Share News (BPTY)

(ShareCast News) - City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open three points lower than Thursday's close of 6,192.03.European equities are set to cautiously open flat this Friday morning after what's been a rollercoaster week, London Capital Group dealer Farbod Mimeh said."Markets seem to have regained a bit of confidence with the memories of the dramatic falls on "Black Monday" still very much fresh in the mind of investors," Mimeh said.Mimeh said volumes were still thin with volatility a given but the general consensus is the market gave what many were expecting, a correction.Stocks to watchOnline gambling group Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment posted a small rise in core first-half earnings despite being impacted by lower revenue and higher taxes. The company, which is currently in the middle of a bidding war between GVC Holdings and 888 Holdings, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased 2% from the first half of last year to €47.3m.WPP subsidiary MediaCom has acquired a minority stake in Australian agency Rapid Media Services. The media communications agency has offices in Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.In the pressThe ousted chief executive of Tesco is to be interviewed by the Serious Fraud Office over the supermarket group's £326m accounting scandal. Philip Clarke, who left Tesco last year after a series of profit warnings, is to be interviewed under caution, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the investigation. - The TimesThe threat of rising interest rates has helped the number of first-time buyers to jump to its highest level since 2007, despite the increasingly hefty deposits needed. Completed property transactions by first-timers reached 29,700 in July, which was 5% higher than in June and the highest since August 2007 when the number stood at 35,300, according to the latest first-time buyer tracker report from Your Move and Reeds Rains, the estate agents. - The TimesUK consumer confidence climbed to its joint highest level in 15 years in August, as rising house prices, a brighter jobs market and low inflation underscored Britain's recovery. GfK's latest confidence barometer showed optimism about personal finances as well as the wider economy rose in August compared with July, pushing its index up three points to 7. This matched June's reading, which was also the highest since January 2000. - The Daily TelegraphUS closeUS stocks rallied on Thursday, as Wall Street fed off a global recovery and strong GDP data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 369 points to 16,654.77, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were 47 and 115 points higher respectively. "Today's strong revision to US GDP made the Fed's job even harder when they reconvene for September's meeting, which has all but been written off as a source of a rate hike given this week's volatility," said Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG.In company news, shares in St Jude Medical jumped 4.44% after reports that Abbott Laboratories could buy the maker of medical devices.