(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening slightly higher on Thursday, clawing back some of Wednesday's loss, while Asian markets struggled and equities in New York dropped overnight as traders digested the latest batch of Federal Reserve meeting minutes.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 17.60 points higher, or 0.2%, at 7,533.35. The blue chip index closed down 20.31 points, or 0.3%, at 7,515.75 on Wednesday.
In Tokyo on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 was down 0.9% in late trade. Shortly before the closing bell in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.2% lower. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.5%, while the Hang Seng Index was 0.6% lower.
In New York on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.5%, the S&P 500 lost 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3%.
The US Federal Reserve reaffirmed its commitment to reducing historically high levels of inflation but could rein in the pace of interest rate increases "at some point", minutes from its latest policy meeting showed on Wednesday.
In the minutes of the July policy meeting, which saw a second straight 75 basis points increase, Fed officials said it will take some time to bring "unacceptably high" inflation back down near 2.0% target levels.
Policymakers at the Fed judged that there was little evidence to date that inflation pressures were subsiding.
However, participants stressed that moving to an "appropriately restrictive stance of policy was essential for avoiding an unanchoring of inflation expectations", once high levels of inflation were under control.
The minutes did little to reveal how the Fed will act when it next meets in September.
Analysts at ING commented: "We are still saying 50bp September, 50bp November and 25bp December, but if we got another 350k jobs print for August and CPI failed to show any moderation from the 8.5% headline and 5.9% core then we would likely switch to a 75bp call for September."
The sterling was quoted at USD1.2044 early Thursday, up from USD1.2040 at the London equities close on Wednesday. The euro stood at USD1.0173, up from USD1.0155. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY135.02, down from JPY135.44.
Boosted by a slightly weaker greenback, gold rose to USD1,764.22 an ounce early Thursday, from USD1,753.55 late Wednesday. Brent oil was quoted at USD93.80 a barrel, up from USD93.38.
The economic events calendar on Thursday has eurozone inflation readings at 1000 BST and the latest US jobless claims numbers at 1330 BST.
Shares in Made.com will be in focus on Thursday. Late Wednesday, Sky News reported the sofa seller has hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to help with repairing its balance sheet, including plans for a share sale to raise around GBP50 million.
Made.com has a market capitalisation of GBP39.1 million.
According to Sky News sources, the furniture retailer is advancing plans to raise funds a month after announcing that it was exploring ways to bolster its financial position.
Sky News reported that the launch of a cash call is expected to take the form of a placing which would require shareholder approval.
Made shares debuted in June last year at 200 pence each, valuing it around GBP775 million on admission. The stock closed 5.0% lower at 9.88p each in London on Wednesday, down 95% from its IPO price.
The UK corporate calendar on Thursday has annual results from gambling company Rank Group and online appliance retailer AO World. Paving specialist Marshalls will report interim results.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
