LONDON MARKET EARLY CALL: Stocks called up after New York boost

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open fractionally higher on Friday, in a quieter end to a data-heavy week.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 1.9 points higher at 8,347.60 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed up 66.30 points, 0.8%, at 8,347.35 on Thursday.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.2870 early Friday, higher than USD1.2866 at the London equities close on Thursday.

The euro traded at USD1.0980 early Friday, lower than USD1.0988 on Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY148.83 versus JPY148.89.

In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.4% at 40,563.06, the S&P 500 up 1.6% at 5,543.22 and the Nasdaq Composite up 2.3% at 17,594.50.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris made an upbeat show of unity Thursday as they held their first joint public event since Harris replaced the president as the Democratic Party's candidate in November's election.

Biden announced a major deal to reduce medication prices for retirees on social welfare programs. The drug prices deal will reduce costs for retirees on 10 key medicines, including treatments for diabetes, heart failure and blood clots. But the biggest star was Biden's vice president.

Harris is set to be crowned as the Democratic nominee at the party convention in Chicago next week. But she made a display of vice presidential deference, delivering only short remarks to introduce Biden, ahead of a speech in North Carolina on Friday, where she is expected to debut her economic policy.

Elsewhere, Donald Trump has said that Americans are struggling with massive price hikes in a news conference at his New Jersey golf club. He blamed these on VP Kamala Harris, looking to saddle his new Democratic rival with the unpopular economic record of President Joe Biden.

A day earlier, he struggled to make a sustained case for his economic policies during a meandering speech that his campaign had billed as a major policy address. The event came one day after the Labour Department announced year-over-year inflation had reached its lowest level in more than three years in July — the latest sign that the worst price spike in four decades is fading.

In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was 3.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was little changed, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 2.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 1.2%.

Gold was quoted at USD2,453.31 per ounce early Friday, lower than USD2,456.75 on Thurdsay.

Brent oil was trading lower at USD80.74 a barrel on Friday morning, from USD81.30 on Thursday.

GSK PLC on Thursday welcomed a court ruling in Florida state court that found in the drug makers favour.

The London-based company said the court excluded plaintiff's experts' general and specific causation testimony that ranitidine, known as Zantac, was a significant risk for Wilson's prostate cancer.

GSK said it welcomed the Daubert's ruling and will now seek dismissal of the upcoming Wilson case in Florida, whereby plaintiffs alleged a causal link between ranitidine and prostate cancer.

The Daubert standard in the US provides criteria for evaluating whether expert testimony is admissible.

In the corporate calendar, there are half-year results from Kingspan.

In the economic calendar on Friday, there is trade balance from the eurozone at 1000 BST, followed by building permits and the Michigan consumer sentiment index from the US later in the day.

By Holly Beveridge, Alliance News senior reporter

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