Last checked at 
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Friday as investors digest a series of central bank interest rate decisions in the past two days.
The Bank of England raised UK interest rates by 50 basis points on Thursday, as expected. The central bank raised rates to 3.50% from 3.00% previously.
Looking forward, the monetary policy committee said that there are "considerable" uncertainties around the UK's outlook and confirmed that it will respond "forcefully, as necessary".
Shortly after, the European Central Bank lifted its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points as well, also as expected, and warned there will be further "significant" rises to come.
The BoE and ECB moves - together with the same by the Swiss National Bank and a 25-basis-point hike by Norway's central bank - came a day after the US Federal Reserve lifted interest rates by 50 basis points. It also forecast that interest rates would peak at a higher level than previously expected.
Here is what you need to know ahead of the London market open:
----------
MARKETS
----------
FTSE 100: called up 24.43 points, or 0.3%, at 7,450.60
----------
Hang Seng: up 0.7% at 19,496.01
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.9% at 27,527.12
S&P/ASX 200: closed down 0.8% at 7,148.70
----------
DJIA: closed down 2.3%, at 33,202.22
S&P 500: closed down 2.5% at 3,895.75
Nasdaq Composite: closed down 3.2% at 10,810.53
----------
EUR: higher at USD1.0657 (USD1.0637)
GBP: lower at USD1.2191 (USD1.2210)
USD: lower at JPY137.31 (JPY137.70)
Gold: higher at USD1,781.05 per ounce (USD1,776.01)
(Brent): flat at USD81.04 a barrel (USD81.07)
(changes since previous London equities close)
----------
ECONOMICS
----------
Friday's key economic events still to come:
10:00 CET EU flash purchasing managers' index
11:00 CET EU foreign trade
11:00 CET EU harmonised consumer price index
09:30 CET Germany flash PMI
09:30 GMT UK flash UK PMI
09:30 GMT UK BoE statistics on banks' external claims
12:00 GMT UK BoE market participants survey results
09:45 EST US flash manufacturing PMI
09:45 EST US flash services PMI
----------
Retail sales in the UK unexpectedly fell in November against the previous month, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. Retail sales volumes are estimated to have fallen by 0.4% in November, after a revised 0.9% rise in October. Market consensus, as cited by FXStreet, had expected a 0.3% increase in November. Compared with the same period a year earlier, retail sales volumes fell by 5.9% in November. The market had expected a 5.6% fall.
----------
The Japanese private sector saw output stabilise amid stronger service sector expansion towards the year's end, survey results from S&P Global showed. The au Jibun Bank-S&P Global flash composite output index rose to 50.0 points in December from 48.9 in November. The services business activity index rose to 51.7 from 50.3. Any reading over the neutral level of 50 indicates growth. Manufacturing firms in Japan have continued to struggle from subdued demand and severe inflationary pressures. The flash manufacturing output index rose to 46.4 from 45.8 but continued to indicate shrinking activity. The headline flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index, which measures the overall health of the manufacturing sector, posted 48.8 in December, down from 49.0 in November.
----------
BROKER RATING CHANGES
----------
Barclays raises RS Group to 'overweight' ('equal-weight') - price target 1,150 (1,060) pence
----------
Barclays cuts Bunzl to 'underweight' ('equal-weight') - price target 2,740 (2,935) pence
----------
Barclays cuts John Wood Group to 'equal-weight' ('over-weight') - price target 180 (250) pence
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 100
----------
Telecommunications firm BT announced it will be combining its Global and Enterprise units into a single business-to-business unit called BT Business. "The combined unit will enhance value for all our B2B customers, strengthen our competitive position, and deliver material synergies," BT said. It will be led by Bas Burger, the current chief executive of BT's Global unit. BT said the change will help create a simpler business, with just three customer facing units. It also is expected to drive "significant" and "rapid" gross annualised cost savings of "at least" GBP100 million by the end of 2025.
----------
Rio Tinto completed its acquisition of the remainder of Turquoise Hill Resources for USD3.1 billion. The miner said this will simplify its ownership of the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia, thus strengthening its copper portfolio. Rio Tinto now holds a 66% direct interest in the Oyu Tolgoi project with the remaining 34% owned by the government of Mongolia. Turquoise Hill has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto and will be delisted.
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 250
----------
Games Workshop reached an agreement in principle with Amazon Content Services, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, to develop its intellectual property in film and television productions. It also grants Amazon the associated merchandising rights. The games manufacturer said the rights will initially be granted to develop the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It added that the project is "wholly dependent" on, and subject to ,contracts being agreed and entered into, which it said the firms are working towards.
----------
OTHER COMPANIES
----------
Bowling centre operator Hollywood Bowl reported a double-digit rise in revenue in the financial year that ended September 30, a record for the firm, as it significantly multiplied its profitability. It posted revenue of GBP193.7 million, up 49% from GBP129.9 million the previous year. Pretax profit soared to GBP46.7 million from just GBP462,000 the year prior. This figure was also ahead of financial 2019, its last year of uninterrupted trading before the Covid-19 pandemic. The company explained that it had seen considerable growth across all its revenue lines thanks to increases in footfall and spend, as well as an increase in the game volumes. Hollywood Bowl said it has continued this momentum into the start of its current financial year, noting strong demand an "encouraging" pre-bookings for the Christmas period.
----------
Gambling firm Rank Group said that for the five months ended November 30, like-for-like net gaming revenue was up just 1% compared to the same period last year, due to a decline at its Grosvenor venues. It explained that whilst there has been some improvement in Grosvenor's trading over the last few weeks, trading in its second quarter has been weaker than expected, with weekly average net gaming revenue of GBP5.8 million. "We had expected Grosvenor venues to have continued to improve throughout Q2 and then into the second half of the year, but this improvement has not yet materialised, driven by lower customer spend per visit," Rank explained. As a result, Rank now expects like-for-like underlying operating profit for the year ending June 30 to be in the range of GBP10 million to GBP20 million.
----------
By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter
Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2022 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
