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(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to edge lower at Thursday's open, after an outperformance following UK inflation data on Wednesday.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open down 7.0 points, 0.1%, at 7,581.20 on Thursday. The index of London large-caps closed up 134.51 points, or 1.8% at 7,588.20 on Wednesday.
Stocks rallied after a shock UK inflation print, which showed consumer prices rose 7.9% annually in June, cooling from 8.7% the month before, and below estimates of 8.2%.
The pound had dropped sharply against the dollar, but regained some ground overnight. Sterling was quoted at USD1.2937 early Thursday, higher than USD1.2890 at the London equities close on Wednesday.
The euro traded at USD1.1218, higher than USD1.1197. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY139.39, down versus JPY139.65.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.3%, the S&P 500 up 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite marginally higher.
After the closing bell, Netflix reported its second quarter results, boasting higher-than-expected subscriber growth, after its password-sharing crackdown.
Total global streaming paid memberships increased to 238.4 million in the second quarter, from 220.7 million the year prior.
The streaming company reported net profit of USD1.49 billion in the second quarter of 2023, up 3.3% from USD1.44 billion the year prior, while revenue totalled USD8.19 billion, rising 2.7% from USD7.97 billion. However, revenue was below market forecasts, sending Netflix's shares down 8.3% in after-hours trade.
In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 1.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.2%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was up 0.1%.
Gold was quoted at USD1,983.55 an ounce early Thursday, higher than USD1,975.43 on Wednesday. Brent oil was trading at USD79.51 a barrel, down from USD80.39.
In early UK company news, Sky News reported that AIM's Cake Box Holdings has received a takeover proposal from a privately owned Australian firm.
Sky said that The Cheesecake Shop has proposed a 160 pence a share bid for the company. Cake Box shares had closed at 151p each on Wednesday.
According to Sky's "city sources", the bid is unlikely to gain the support of Cake Box's board.
In Thursday's UK corporate calendar, there are full-year results from Babcock, Dunelm and IG Group. Anglo American, AJ Bell, SSE and Premier Foods will also release trading statements.
The economic calendar has the US weekly unemployment claims report at 1330 BST.
By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News senior markets reporter
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