LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks are expected to open in the red Tuesday, following their US and Asian counterparts lower, as concerns about Greece continue to weigh on investor sentiment and bond yields edge higher.
"Europe's markets started the new week in the same vein they finished last week, pressured by rising concerns about the deadlock in the Greece bailout talks, and continued weakness in German bond markets which is continuing to push up yields," says Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
On Monday, US President Barack Obama said that Greece and its international creditors must show "sufficient flexibility" in order to end the country's economic crisis and head off the threat of Athens defaulting, but joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel in calling on cash-strapped Greece to introduce tough economic reforms.
Merkel said that the Group of Seven leaders wanted to see Greece remain a eurozone member state, but warned that time was running out for the nation to conclude a deal with its creditors. "We want Greece to be part of the eurozone...but solidarity among European countries means Greece will have to implement certain measures," the chancellor said.
The FTSE 100 is called to open lower Tuesday, having closed lower for the past three trading sessions. IG and CMC Markets expect the blue-chip index to open approximately 8 points lower at around 6,782 after it closed down 0.2% at 6,790.04 on Monday, while OANDA calls it to open down 13 points.
"While the sell-off may not be easing up right now, I do think that any significant progress in Greek talks this week could bring an end to the sell-off for now as a deal would remove an enormous amount of uncertainty," says Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA. "Numerous deadlines have been set for when a deal between Greece and its creditors needs to be done and the latest is the middle of this month giving Greece around a week to come to an agreement or prepare for default," he adds.
In the US, stocks closed broadly lower Monday, with the DJIA, S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite all closing down between 0.5% and 0.9%. This negative sentiment has rolled into Asian trading overnight, where stocks are firmly in the red. The Shanghai Composite index, the Hang Seng and the Nikkei all are down between 1.1% and 1.8%.
In data already released Tuesday, China's National Bureau of Statistics has revealed that Chinese consumer price inflation rose 1.2% year-on-year in May, slowing from the 1.5% posted in April and slightly below economists' expectations for 1.3%. On a monthly basis, Chinese CPI fell 0.2%, unchanged from April's reading.
"This is well below the country?s 3% target and along with yesterday?s imports figure points to a worrying lack of domestic demand in the economy," says OANDA's Erlam. "We've seen numerous stimulus efforts from the People's Bank of China this year, and it has been suggested that this data should prompt more, but surely at some point they?ll have to just give their current efforts a chance to work," he adds.
Meanwhile, in a separate report, the Chinese statistics bureau said that producer prices in China were down 4.6% year-on-year in May, unchanged from the previous month. Economists had forecast a fall of 4.5%.
Still to come in the economic calendar Tuesday, UK trade data for April is scheduled to be released at 0930 BST, ahead of UK inflation report hearings at 1000 BST.
Eurozone gross domestic product data for the first quarter also are published at 1000 BST. According to FXStreet.com, economists' expectations are for eurozone GDP to remain unchanged from the preliminary readings that were released in May, showing a 0.4% rise quarter-on-quarter and a 1.0% rise on a yearly basis.
"Recent evidence points to a continuation of the euro area upturn in [the] second quarter," says Jonathan Thomas, senior economist at Lloyds Bank. "However, any positive knock-on effect to UK exports is likely to be partially countered by this year's appreciation of sterling against the euro," he adds.
In the US, the National Federation of Independent Business' business optimism index is published at 1400 BST, with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' job openings and labour turnover survey for April due at 1500 BST. US wholesale inventories data for April also are due at 1500 BST.
Ahead of the data and the UK equity market open, sterling trades at USD1.5354, EUR1.3583, JPY190.760 and CHF1.4238. The euro, meanwhile, trades at USD1.1300.
In corporate news, FTSE 100-listed HSBC Holdings said it will take action to save billions of dollars in costs by 2017, building on the costs Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver has already slashed from the group's annual bill.
The London-based banking group said it wants to save a further USD4.5 billion to USD5.0 billion by 2017, with a one-off cost of between USD4.0 billion and USD4.5 billion to achieve those cuts.
The group confirmed it intends to sell operations in Turkey and Brazil, though it will keep a presence in the South American country to help serve large corporate clients. It will axe between 22,000 and 25,000 full-time employees between 2014 and 2017, not including Brazil and Turkey, from the 258,000 employed in the whole group at the end of 2014, although reductions will be partly re-invested in growth and compliance.
"HSBC has an unrivalled global position: access to high growth markets; a diversified universal banking model with strong funding and a low risk profile; and strong internal capital generation with industry leading dividends," Gulliver said in a statement.
The chief executive also wants to accelerate investments in Asia, where it wants to expand its assets management and insurance activities.
"The world is increasingly connected, with Asia expected to show high growth and become the centre of global trade over the next decade. I am confident that our actions will allow us to capture expected future growth opportunities and deliver further value to shareholders," Gulliver said.
Meanwhile, private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co LLP is set to sell up to 21.6% of FTSE 250-listed Pets at Home Group , according to stock exchange documents on Monday.
In a statement, BofA Merrill Lynch, which is acting as bookrunner on the accelerated bookbuild placing, said KKR plans to sell up to 108.0 million shares.
Mid-cap Just Eat Tuesday said 41.33% of the shares available under its recently-announced open offer were taken up, and the remainder have been placed so that it raised about GBP445 million to fund the company's acquisition of Menulog Group Ltd.
Just Eat announced the open offer and placing last month and the open offer closed on Monday. It got valid acceptances for 43.6 million shares under the open offer, and the remaining 61.8 million in the offer were taken up under its placing.
It had already said that its major shareholders, which held 42.97% of its share issuance ahead of the placing and open offer, wouldn't take up their entitlement under the open offer.
By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp
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HSBC Holdings (HSBA)
Pets at home (PETS)
