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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are set to open a touch lower Tuesday as investors continue to await the list of Greek economic reforms to be handed to its creditors.
Greece will submit new economic reform proposals on Tuesday in a bid to secure a four-month extension to the European share of its bailout, with Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis blaming the one-day delay on the country's international creditors.
Athens had been asked to come up with a detailed list of reforms by midnight on Monday, as part of an agreement reached last week with eurozone finance ministers to extend the country's bailout until June and receive loans to repay its debts. But with less than four hours to go until the deadline, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' office issued a statement saying that Athens would send the list off on Tuesday, ahead of a Greek cabinet meeting at 1000 GMT.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 2.5 points lower at 6,909.7. The index closed slightly lower at 6,912.16 on Monday, with oil stocks falling as the price of oil came under pressure and HSBC Holdings closed down 4.6%, after it missed expectations with a 17% drop in pretax profit.
Ahead of the London open, Brent oil is quoted at USD58.53 and West Texas Intermediate is at USD48.94.
Wall Street ended mixed Monday. The DJIA closed down 0.1%, the S&P 500 ended slightly lower while the Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.1%.
In Asia Tuesday, the Japanese Nikkei closed up 0.7% at 18,603.48, its highest close since April 2000. The Hang Seng trades down 0.4%, and Shanghai remains closed for Chinese New Year.
In the corporate calendar, there are full-year results from a host of FTSE 100 constituents including housebuilder Persimmon, engineering group GKN, defence and aerospace components maker Meggitt, and packaging and paper company Mondi.
In the FTSE 250, subprime lender Provident Financial, electricity generator Drax Group, specialty chemicals companies Croda International, and Elementis all will report full-year results, while emerging markets asset manager Ashmore Group and animal genetics company Genus will issue half-year results.
BHP Billiton said overnight that its first half profit nearly halved year-on-year, despite growth in production, owing to the impact of volatile commodity markets. The company slashed capital and exploration expenditure, and declared a 5% increase in interim dividend. The Melbourne, Australia-based mining giant reported attributable profit of USD4.27 billion or USD0.80 per share for the first half, 47.4% lower than USD8.11 billion or USD1.52 per share in the same period last year.
In the economic calendar, German GDP readings for the fourth quarter are due at 0700 GMT, ahead of the eurozone consumer price index at 1000 GMT. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will be giving a speech in Frankfurt at the official unveiling of the new EUR20 banknote at 1400 GMT. US consumer confidence is at 1500 GMT as is US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's semi-annual Congressional testimony on monetary policy.
By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
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