CORRECT: LONDON MARKET COMMENT: Stocks Seen Lower; ITV, Hikma Positive

(Correcting ITV Family net advertising revenue forecast for months May and June.)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks are set to open lower on Thursday as volatility in global bond markets continues to depress equities.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 33 points lower at 6,916.6. The index closed up 0.2% at 6,949.63 on Wednesday following mixed economic data in Europe, the UK and US.

On Wall Street Wednesday, the DJIA and the S&P 500 both ended a touch lower, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.1%.

In Asia Thursday, the Nikkei 225 closed down 1.0%, the Hang Seng trades down 0.1% and the Shanghai Composite is down 0.4%.

Recent sharp sell-offs in European and US bonds have sent yields higher and have weighed on stock markets and continue to put pressure ahead of the open Thursday.

"I think everyone expected yields to rise once we started to see a bounce in oil prices as, naturally, this would change people's inflation outlook. The pace at which they've risen has been quite surprising, which is probably a consequence of a lack of liquidity in the market at the moment," says Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda. "While we may still continue to see yields creep higher, I would say much of the aggressive moves are done for now, and we may even see bond markets correct a little."

ITV reiterated expectations for further strong growth across the business for 2015, and guided for a 5% rise in net advertising revenue for its first half, as it posted a rise in revenue for its first quarter.

ITV Family net advertising revenue rose 12% in the first quarter to end-March, ahead of the 11% that company had previously guided at the time of its full year results. ITV Family net advertising revenue was up 5% in April, but is forecast to be down 5% in May and by between 5% and 7% in June, as in the previous year results were boosted by the World Cup. As a result, ITV is guiding for 5% growth for its first half.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals reiterated its guidance for 2015, saying it had made a good start to the year, and expressed confidence for growth over the longer-term.

The company continues to expect revenue growth of around 6% at constant currency for the full year, although it also continues to expect the strong dollar to hit revenue and therefore at actual exchange rates expects growth of 2%.

In the rest of the UK corporate calendar, out are full-year results from FTSE 100 constituents 3i Group and British Land Co, while Aggreko, Old Mutual, and Merlin Entertainments released interim management statements. Vedanta Resources and TalkTalk Telecom Group reported full-year results, while Mitchells & Butlers, Grainger, Marston's and Euromoney Institutional Investor provided half-year results.

The economic calendar is light Thursday, with no UK releases. The US producer price index is at 1330 BST, along with initial and continuing jobless claims. US EIA natural gas stocks are at 1530 BST.

By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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