(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Friday, giving back some of this week's healthy gains, with Democrat candidate Joe Biden seeming to have a firm grip in the race for the White House in the US.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 9.3 points lower at 5,896.88. London's blue-chip index closed up 0.4%, or 22.92 points at 5,906.18 on Thursday.
The large-cap index is up roughly 6% so far in a week marked by several major central bank decisions, the start of lockdown in England, and political turmoil in the US.
"The positive run in stocks is a little odd seeing as it is often said that dealers despise uncertainty, and that is exactly the situation we are in now," CMC Markets UK Market Analyst David Madden said.
The dollar was lower across the board early Friday. The pound was quoted at USD1.3141 early Friday, up from USD1.3097 on Thursday evening. The euro was up at USD1.1835, from USD1.1820. The dollar also was down against the yen, at JPY103.46 from JPY103.71 late Thursday in London.
Joe Biden has one hand on the US presidency. After securing victories in Wisconsin and Michigan, the Democrat had 264 electoral college votes and needed to win one of Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina or biggest prize Pennsylvania to reach the necessary 270 to win the White House race.
On the London Stock Exchange, AVEVA said it is making progress with its takeover of data management software firm OSIsoft and proposed a GBP2.84 billion rights issue to partly fund the USD5.0 billion deal. RSA Insurance backed a consortium's takeover and split-up of the company. Fellow insurer Beazley reported third-quarter progress. Budget carrier easyJet cut capacity again due to the latest Covid-19 restrictions.
Software firm AVEVA said it plans to raise GBP2.84 billion in a seven for nine rights issue, which has been backed by 60% shareholder Schneider Electric.
The rights issue price is GBP22.55, AVEVA noted. Its stock closed at GBP41.62 on Thursday.
On the OSIsoft takeover, AVEVA said: "Regulatory and antitrust approvals are on track. AVEVA has already received antitrust approvals in several countries and expects to receive all antitrust and regulatory approvals in relation to the acquisition (including approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) between December 2020 and February 2021."
Elsewhere among the large caps, RSA Insurance's board backed a GBP7.2 billion takeover proposal from a two-headed consortium.
The company on Thursday confirmed Canadian insurer Intact Financial and Scandinavian insurer Tryg have made a proposal to buy the FTSE 100-listed firm and divide it up between them.
The proposal, RSA said, comprises 685 pence in cash per RSA share, plus payment by RSA of the announced interim dividend of eight pence per share. RSA closed at 670.00p on Thursday, jumping in the final minutes of trading from its quote of 452.60p just 10 minutes prior to the close.
"The board of RSA has indicated to the consortium that it would be minded to recommend the proposal, subject to satisfactory resolution of the other terms of the proposal, including a period of due diligence which is currently underway by the consortium," RSA said.
In the FTSE 250s, peer Beazley posted a rise in gross premiums written after its third quarter of trading.
In the nine months ended September 30, gross written premiums surged 16% year-on-year to USD2.53 billion. Beazley said it has seen growth in almost all of its divisions.
Looking ahead, Beazley said Covid-19 related claims may climb by USD50 million should there not be a return to "some form of normality" in the second half of 2021. Back in September, it said its claims estimate for Covid-19 was USD340 million net of reinsurance, which it kept in place on Thursday. Beazley said it expects third-quarter catastrophe claims to be USD80 million net of reinsurance.
easyJet on Friday said it now plans to fly "no more than 20%" of its planned capacity for the first quarter of financial 2021. Demand for travel has been hit by Covid-19 and subsequent government restrictions across the globe.
The carrier said the capacity cut is due to the latest lockdown in England and "similar announcements in Germany and France".
easyJet also announced the sale and leaseback of 11 aircraft, netting the carrier USD169.5 million.
On Thursday, the UK government removed Germany and Sweden from its quarantine-free list, forcing people travelling to the UK from those destinations to quarantine for two weeks if they arrive after 4am on Saturday.
Germany's seven-day rate of coronavirus cases per 100,000 people reached 140 after nearly 20,000 cases were reported on Wednesday. The rate for Sweden is 190 with the UK's own at 235.
In Japan on Friday, the Nikkei 225 closed 0.9% higher, reached its highest level since November 1991. In China, Shanghai's SSE Composite fell 0.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was marginally higher in late trade.
Several US TV networks late Thursday halted live coverage of Donald Trump's first public appearance since election night after concluding that the president was spreading disinformation.
Trump unleashed a flood of incendiary and unsubstantiated claims in a 17-minute address, insisting that Democrats were using "illegal votes" to "steal the election from us".
The president spoke as late vote counting in battleground states showed Biden steadily closing in on victory.
On Thursday, the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, as expected.
In the data calendar Friday, there are UK Halifax house prices at 0830 GMT. The highlight of the day will be the nonfarm payroll data at 1330 GMT.
The precursor ADP jobs report on Wednesday showed US private sector companies added jobs at a slower pace than expected in October.
Brent oil fetched USD40.34, down from USD40.87 at the London equities close on Thursday.
Gold prices were lower early Friday. The precious metal was quoted at USD1,943.32, down from USD1,946.20.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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