LONDON MARKET EARLY CALL: FTSE 100 seen flat as US-Iran deal looms

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open largely flat on Friday, following reports that an agreement between the US and Iran is just awaiting US President Donald Trump's approval.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open up 4.1 points at 10,430.06 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed down 79.05 points, 0.8%, at 10,425.96 on Thursday.

Sterling was at USD1.3438 on Friday morning, up slightly from USD1.3435 at the London equities close on Thursday. Against the euro, sterling advanced slightly to EUR1.1539 from EUR1.1530.

The euro was lower at USD1.1640 from USD1.1653. Against the yen, the dollar was a little higher at JPY159.29 versus JPY159.23.

US and Iranian negotiators have agreed on a framework for a 60-day ceasefire extension deal but it still needs President Trump's approval, US sources told AFP.

The sources confirmed a report by the Axios news outlet that the two sides had reached agreement on a memorandum of understanding to prolong the truce, open the Strait of Hormuz and launch negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declined to confirm any agreement but said that "we perhaps have the makings of a deal here."

In response, Brent crude for July delivery was trading lower at USD92.66 a barrel on Friday morning from USD94.57 on Thursday.

US Vice President JD Vance signalled that Trump's approval of a possible deal is far from certain.

Vance told reporters at Joint Base Andrews that negotiators have "made a lot of progress," but some points, including possible restrictions on Iran's nuclear programme, were still being discussed.

"I think it's hard to say exactly when or if the president is going to sign the MoU," Vance said. "Hopefully, we'll continue to make progress and the president will be in a position where he can endorse the agreement, but, obviously, that's tbd," he added, using the acronym for "to be determined."

In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.1%, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9%.

In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was up 2.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.2% lower, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rose 1.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney advanced 1.4%.

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic said it had raised USD65 billion in a new funding round that values the Claude maker at USD965 billion, more than its archrival OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.

Anthropic's rise came by doubling down on delivering generative AI to enterprise clients rather than general users, the path initially chosen by OpenAI.

"This funding will help us serve the historic demand we are experiencing, stay at the research frontier, and bring Claude to more of the places where work happens," said Krishna Rao, Anthropic's chief financial officer.

Elsewhere, Royal Bank of Canada raised its quarterly dividend by 7.3% as it reported stronger second quarter revenue and earnings.

The Toronto-based financial services company said in its second quarter ended April 30, net income climbed 26% to CAD5.51 billion, or USD3.99 billion, from CAD4.39 billion a year prior.

Gold was higher at USD4,506.83 an ounce early on Friday from USD4,479.57 late Thursday.

Friday's global economic calendar has French, German and Italian inflation data, GDP figures from Canada, plus the Chicago PMI.

Friday's local corporate calendar has first quarter results from Beowulf Mining.

By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter

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