LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are set to open higher Monday, despite uncertainty over the Greek debt negotiations and disappointing economic data from China.
"Claims and counter claims with respect to the closeness of some form of deal between Greece and its creditors continued to go back and forth last week, with the end result that, despite yet another looming deadline, the two sides appeared to remain as far apart as ever," says Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
Last week, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the Greek stand-off will be resolved in the ?coming days and weeks", but his comments were later offset by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who ruled out an early breakthrough in the tortuous negotiations,
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 22 points higher at 7,006.7. The index closed down 0.8% at 6,984.43 points Friday, the last trading day of May, as Greece debt negotiations continued to trouble market participants.
The manufacturing sector in China continued to contract in May, the latest report from HSBC Bank showed on Monday, with a manufacturing PMI score of 49.2.
That was in line with expectations, and it represented a slight upward revision from last month's flash estimate reading of 49.1. It was up from 49.9 in April, although it remains beneath the line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction in a sector.
"With some end of week volatility in Hong Kong and Chinese markets, investors appear to be treading carefully with respect to taking on large amounts of new large scale exposure to equities," says Hewson.
In Asia on Monday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 is flat, while the Hang Seng trades up 0.9% in Hong Kong. The Shanghai Composite is trading up 3.5%.
Wall Street ended lower Friday, with the DJIA, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite all down 0.6%.
In the corporate calendar Monday, SVG Capital issues an interim management statement, while Scottish Investment Trust releases half-year results. Camco Clean Energy, NextEnergy Solar Fund, Circle Oil, Capital Gearing Trust and Dolphin Capital Investors publish full-year results. Meanwhile, Xcite Energy releases first-quarter results
In the economic calendar Monday, manufacturing PMIs from Italy, France and Germany are due at 0845 BST, 0850 BST and 0855 BST, respectively. Meanwhile, manufacturing PMI readings from the eurozone and the UK are due at 0900 BST and 0930 BST, respectively. Germany's consumer price index is due at 1300 BST. In the US, manufacturing PMI is due at 1445 BST
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
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