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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks are set to open slightly lower Tuesday following a weak close on Wall Street on Monday amid a sell-off on US treasuries.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 29.9 points lower at 7,000.0. The index closed down 0.2% at 7,029.85 on Monday, following a lack of progress in the Eurogroup meeting to discuss Greece's financial problems.
Eurozone finance ministers told Greece on Monday to speed up work aimed at reaching an agreement with its creditors on the country's reform plans, amid fears that Athens could soon run out of money. As Greece continues to access the EUR7.2 billion in remaining bailout funds, the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers warned in a joint statement that "more time and effort are needed to bridge the gaps on the remaining open issues".
Athens made a EUR756 million loan repayment to the IMF on Monday, hours ahead of a Tuesday deadline, Greek state radio reported. It is one of a series of debt redemption tranches that have raised concerns about Greece's ability to keep paying its bills.
In New York on Monday, the DJIA and the S&P 500 both ended down 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2%. A sharp jump in Treasury yields weighed on stocks, with bonds moving back to the downside after rebounding in the two previous sessions. The steep pullback by Treasuries was partly due to continued weakness among European bonds as well as an influx of supply in the coming days.
"European bond markets also started to succumb to the same selling pressure that we saw in the middle of last week, with German bunds also coming under pressure again, on receding deflation concerns, and this looks set to see a weaker European open equity market open this morning," says Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
In Asia Tuesday, the Japanese Nikkei closed flat, and the Hang Seng trades down 0.3%, while the Shanghai Composite is up 1.0%.
Low-cost airline easyJet said it swung to a profit in the first half of its financial year as it flew more passengers and it benefited from lower fuel prices and favourable exchange rate movements. It said it is still on track to grow revenue and profit in the year as a whole despite a hit in April from an air traffic control strike in France.
EasyJet said it made a pretax profit of GBP5 million in the six months to end-March, compared with a loss of GBP53 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP1.77 billion from GBP1.70 billion.
Elsewhere in the UK corporate calendar, information services company Experian reported full-year results, as did equipment rental and plant hire services company Speedy Hire. Pub operator Enterprise Inns reported half-year results, while Lloyd's of London insurer Hiscox and specialist insurer Just Retirement Group released interim management statements.
In the economic calendar, there is UK industrial and manufacturing production figures at 0930 BST, and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research's UK GDP estimate at 1500 BST.
By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
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