LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are set to open lower Friday, after confidence for a deal on Greek debt took a hit late Thursday, with stock indices across Europe giving back almost half of their earlier gains late in trading.
The International Monetary Fund's technical team left bailout talks with Greece in Brussels and returned to Washington with the sides "well away from an agreement", IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said Thursday.
"There are major differences between us in most key areas," according to Rice. "There has been no progress in narrowing these differences recently."
The IMF spokesman noted the "urgency" of the talks, but he added there is "no real schedule here" for negotiations. "The IMF never leaves the table," Rice said. "We remain engaged, but the ball is very much in Greece's court right now."
CMC Markets UK chief market analyst Michael Hewson comments: "The logjam appears to revolve around pension and labour market reform, which Greece remains unwilling to compromise on, and when looking at the demonstrations that took place back in Athens yesterday, it?s not hard to see why."
"Even if Greece does compromise on the issues the IMF wants change on, there is no guarantee that they would be able to implement them and therein lies the rub," writes Hewson.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 20 points lower at 6,826.3. The index closed up 0.2% at 6,846.74 on Thursday, having reached a peak of 6,870.19.
Wall Street ended higher Thursday. The DJIA and the S&P 500 ended up 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.1%.
In Asia on Friday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 trades down 0.1%. Meanwhile, the Hang Seng trades up 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite is up 0.8%.
Japan's industrial production climbed more than initially estimated in April, latest figures from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed. Industrial production rose a seasonally adjusted 1.2% month-over-month in April, revised up from a 1.0% gain in the flash data. It was the first increase in three months. In March, production had fallen 0.8%.
In a light economic calendar Friday, eurozone industrial production is due at 1000 BST. In the US, producer price index is due at 1330 BST, while Reuters/Michigan consumer sentiment index is due at 1500 BST.
In the UK corporate calendar, Ted Baker issues an interim management statement, while Sthree releases a trading update.
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
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