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LONDON (Alliance News) - London share prices are set to open higher Friday, with investors focusing on UK industrial and manufacturing data due to be released at 0930 BST.
"Manufacturing production has been on the decline in the UK in recent months, and we expect that trend to have continued in February. A big challenge facing the industry this year is going to be the strong pound and what impact it will have on exports, particularly to its largest trading partner, the eurozone. Not only do they have to contend with a strong pound, the euro is also significantly weaker making UK manufactured products much pricier for euro area consumers. This is not going to help with the low inflation scenario that the UK finds itself embroiled in as in order to compete, they may be forced to lower prices," says Oanda senior analyst Craig Erlam.
CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson says: "The latest manufacturing and industrial production numbers for February are expected to come in fairly positive at 0.4% and 0.3% respectively, but they aren?t expected to completely reverse the weakness seen in the January numbers, which were disappointing, with any disappointment likely to weigh further on the pound."
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 24 points higher at 7,039.8. The index closed up 1.1% at 7,015.36, ending above the 7,000 mark for the first time since March 24, with market participants relieved that Greece met a debt repayment deadline with the International Monetary Fund.
Job placements in the UK increased at a stronger pace in March, while salaries rose at the fastest rate in six months, data from a survey by Markit Economics and KPMG revealed Friday.
Permanent job placements in March rose at a rate unchanged from the previous month's considerable pace. Meanwhile, temp billings growth was only slightly slower than the five-month high of February. The number of job vacancies climbed to a five-month high in March, underpinned by robust demand for staff.
Wall Street ended higher Thursday. The DJIA closed up 0.3%, the S&P 500 ended up 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite finished up 0.5%.
In Asia on Friday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 closed up 0.1%. The index reached the 20,000 mark for the first time since 2000. The Hang Seng is up 0.2%, above the 27,000 mark and at levels it hasn't seen since 2008. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite is trading up 1.2%.
Chinese inflation remained unchanged in March and producer prices continued to remain in negative territory, giving room for the central bank to adjust its policy to spur economic growth.
The consumer price index gained 1.4% in March from last year, the same rate of growth as seen in the prior month, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Friday. Inflation was forecast to ease marginally to 1.3%. On a monthly basis, consumer prices fell 0.5%, reversing a 1.2% rise in February. This was the first fall in four months.
"The People's Bank of China has repeatedly announced cuts to interest rates and the reserve requirement ratio recently in an attempt to stave off deflation, but so far this either hasn't had a chance to support prices or it has failed. I think more rate cuts are inevitable from the PBOC given how far below target inflation is, the only question is how long they'll wait," writes Oanda's Erlam.
Brent crude is quoted at around USD56.55 a barrel Friday, and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate is quoted at USD50.60 a barrel. Gold is quoted early Friday at USD1,195.31 an ounce.
Acacia Mining on Friday said it has signed a deal to expand its land holdings in the Houndé belt in Burkina Faso via two earn-in agreements.
The FTSE 250-listed miner has signed earn-in deals with Canyon Resources and Thor Explorations. The deal with Canyon will give Acacia a 75% earn-in interest in the Pinarello and Konkolikan projects, and the Thor deal will give it a 51% interest in the Central Houndé project. Acacia said the deals have cost around USD1 million and are part of its USD20 million exploration budget for 2015.
Also in the economic calendar Friday, US import and export price indices are at scheduled for 1330 BST, while UK NIESR GDP estimate is at 1500 BST.
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
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