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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are set to open higher Wednesday, building on strong gains made on Tuesday as the rebound in oil prices continues to support the energy-intense FTSE 100.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 18.2 points higher at 6,890.0. The index closed up 1.3% on Tuesday at 6,871.80 supported by the rise in oil prices and hopes that a debt proposal put forward by Greece's new finance minister will help resolve the country's dispute with its creditors.
Brent oil continues its bounce back from recent lows to trade at USD57.85 a barrel before the London equity market open Wednesday. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate is quoted at USD52.25 a barrel.
Wall Street also posted a strong performance Tuesday, with the DJIA closing up 1.8%, the S&P 500 ending up 1.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite closing up 1.1%.
In Asia, the Nikkei closed up 2.0% Wednesday despite a report of a slight slowdown in the Japanese service sector.
The Hang Seng trades up 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite continues down 0.2% after HSBC services Purchasing Managers' Index for China fell to 51.8 in January from 53.4 in December.
In the corporate calendar Wednesday, there are full year results expected from pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline at 1200 GMT, plus half-year results from investment management company Hargreaves Lansdown and broadcaster Sky at 0700 GMT. High performance polymer maker Victrex will issue an interim management statement and International Consolidated Airlines Group will release January traffic statistics, also expected at 0700 GMT.
Still ahead in the economic calendar is Markit services PMI readings from France at 0850 GMT, Germany at 0855 GMT, the eurozone at 0900 GMT, the UK at 0930 GMT and the US at 1445 GMT. There will also be retail sales from the eurozone at 1000 GMT, while in the afternoon the focus will be on US ISM non-manufacturing PMI at 1500 GMT and US EIA crude oil stocks at 1530 GMT.
By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
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