LONDON MARKET EARLY CALL: Stocks down as Middle East ceasefire wavers

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Friday, ahead of the latest UK house price data and following attacks that cast fresh doubt on the US and Iran's fragile ceasefire.

Meanwhile in the UK, local election polls closed late on Thursday with Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Conservative rivals both braced for heavy losses. These predictions started to become reality early on Friday, as far-right Reform's gains exceeded 210 seats when results were in from 37 of the 136 councils in the early hours of Friday, while Labour lost more than 160.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open down 73.1 points, 0.7%, on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed down 1.6% at 10,276.95 on Thursday.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.3573 early Friday, lower than USD1.3616 at the London equities close on Thursday. Against the euro, sterling fell to EUR1.1560 from EUR1.1567 a day prior.

The euro traded at USD1.1737 early Friday, lower than USD1.1768 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted higher at JPY156.84 versus JPY156.41.

Brent oil was trading at USD101.06 a barrel early Friday, higher than USD97.76 late Thursday.

US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was still in place despite an Iranian attack on three American destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz, which he dismissed as "a trifle." US Central Command said in a post on X that Iranian forces launched "multiple missiles, drones and small boats" at the three US warships, but none were hit.

For its part, Iran's central military command accused the US of violating the ceasefire by attacking an oil tanker and another ship, saying Tehran's forces "immediately and in retaliation attacked American military vessels."

Trump subsequently posted on his Truth Social platform: "We'll knock them out a lot harder, and a lot more violently, in the future, if they don't get their deal signed, FAST!"

In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 313.62 points, 0.6%, the S&P 500 down 28.01 points, 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite down 32.75 points, 0.1%.

In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 1.01 points, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 1.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was down 1.6%.

Gold was quoted at USD4,728.56 an ounce early Friday, lower than USD4,742.97 on Thursday.

In Friday's corporate calendar, Airtel Africa releases full-year results and Burford Capital its first-quarter earnings. Further, Rightmove is set to release a trading update and British Airways owner IAG will publish first quarter figures.

In the economic calendar on Friday, apart from UK house price index data that is out shortly, there is trade balance data from Spain and from Germany, which also has industrial production figures.

By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter

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