(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening marginally lower on Friday amid continued concerns economic recovery could lead to a surge in inflation and interest rate hikes.
The UK banking sector will be in focus again as NatWest posts annual earnings, following results from Barclays on Thursday.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 6.05 points lower at 6,611.10. The blue-chip index closed down 93.75 points, or 1.4%, at 6,617.15 Thursday.
"In the middle of the week, the US 10-year yield hit a one-year high, which triggered worries about the possibility of higher inflation. The result was that stock markets came under a little pressure. Yesterday the bearish move gained a little momentum and losses were seen in Europe and the US. An absence of good news, combined with some disappointing corporate results, as well as mixed economic data from the US, weighed on the confidence in stocks," said CMC Markets analyst David Madden.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3977 early Friday, up from USD1.3955 at the London equities close Thursday.
The euro was priced at USD1.2096, higher from USD1.2076. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY105.61, lower against JPY105.72.
Brent oil was quoted at USD63.30 a barrel Friday morning, lower from USD64.49 late Thursday in London. Gold was trading at USD1,773.09 an ounce, down from USD1,776.28
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 down 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite finished 0.7% down.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.7% on Friday. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 1.3%.
Consumer prices in Japan stayed in deflationary territory on an annual basis in January, according to figures released by the Statistics Bureau.
Consumer prices fell 0.6% annually in January, though deflation slowed from 1.2% in December. Monthly, consumer prices were 0.6% higher in January.
Japan's private sector showed a marginal improvement in February, but remained in decline, early purchasing manager survey results from au Jibun Bank showed.
Flash estimates showed that Japan's composite output index edged upwards to 47.6 index points in February, up from the final figure of 47.1 points from January, but still below the 50.0 neutral mark.
The flash manufacturing output index rose to 51.3 points in February from the final figure of 49.2 in January, as both output and new orders expanded at the fastest rates seen since December 2018. Business optimism also rose in February, marking the ninth consecutive month of positive sentiment among Japanese manufacturers.
Meanwhile, the flash Japan services business activity index dipped to 45.8 points in February from 47.1 points in January, with the fastest decline in new business activity in nine months.
The UK corporate calendar on Friday also has full-year results from property investor Segro.
In the economic calendar for Friday, UK retail sales are at 0700 GMT with German producer prices due at the same time. There are then purchasing managers' index readings for Germany, the eurozone and the UK at 0830 GMT, 0900 GMT and 0930 GMT respectively. The US PMI is out at 1445 GMT.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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