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(Alliance News) - Stocks in London were pointed to a flat open on Friday, with the FTSE 100 set to finish the first quarter of 2023 in the green.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open down 1.8 points at 7,618.63 on Friday. The FTSE 100 index added 56.16 points, 0.7%, at 7,620.43 on Thursday.
The large-cap index is up 0.9% in the year-to-date.
In early economic news, the UK will join 11 other countries in a major Asia-Pacific trade partnership, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced Friday, in the country's biggest post-Brexit trade deal following nearly two years of talks.
Britain will be the first new member since the creation of the Comprehensive & Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2018, and the first European country in the bloc. The trade grouping will include more than 500 million people and account for 15% of global GDP once the UK becomes its 12th member, according to Sunak's office.
The pound gained some ground against the dollar, but the euro was flat, and the yen was lower.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.2388 early Friday, higher than USD1.2371 at the London equities close on Thursday. The euro traded at USD1.0899, unchanged from USD1.0900. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY132.96, up versus JPY132.69.
Wall Street ended higher on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.4%, the S&P 500 up 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.7%.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 1.0%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.8%.
Chinese equities also were performing well, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.3% and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong up 0.6%.
China's manufacturing activity slowed in March, official figures showed, while growth in the services and construction sectors surged to a 12-year high.
The world's second-largest economy is slowly rebounding after posting some of its weakest growth in decades in 2022. The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index – a key gauge of Chinese factory output – beat expectations but fell to 51.9 points in March, from 52.6 in February, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.
The official non-manufacturing PMI, which measures growth in the services and construction sectors, rose to 58.2 in March – the highest since May 2011 – and up from 56.3 in February.
In Hong Kong, JD.com was up 7.0%. The Beijing-based online retailer announced it will will spin off its industrial and property units and take them both public.
The move is the latest reorganisation of a major Chinese tech firm. It follows news earlier this week that rival Alibaba will split itself into six different business units, with separate public listings expected.
In UK company news, late Thursday Ocado celebrated another legal win in a patent dispute against AutoStore.
The UK High Court verdict concerned two patents. Autostore back in October 2020 had claimed online grocer and warehouse technology firm Ocado infringed on six of its patents, though two of those claims were invalidated by the European Patent Office before a judgment was made.
Another two were withdrawn by Autostore before a hearing started. The remaining two patents were invalidated by a judge in Thursday's verdict.
Gold was quoted at USD1,979.35 an ounce early Friday, higher than USD1,972.45 on Thursday. Brent oil was trading at USD79.08 a barrel, up from USD78.48.
Friday's economic calendar has a eurozone inflation reading at 1000 BST, after UK GDP current account data and a house price index reading from mortgage lender Nationwide at 0700 BST.
By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News senior markets reporter
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