LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are set to open higher Friday, with the market focus on UK industrial and manufacturing data due to be released at 0930 BST.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 17 points higher at 7,033.6. The index closed up 1.1% at 7,015.36, ending above the 7,000 mark for the first time since March 24, with market participants relieved that Greece met a debt repayment deadline with the International Monetary Fund.
"A big challenge facing the industry this year is going to be the strong pound and what impact it will have on exports, particularly to its largest trading partner, the eurozone. Not only do they have to contend with a strong pound, the euro is also significantly weaker making UK manufactured products much pricier for euro area consumers. This is not going to help with the low inflation scenario that the UK finds itself embroiled in as in order to compete, they may be forced to lower prices," says Oanda senior analyst Craig Erlam.
CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson says: "The latest manufacturing and industrial production numbers for February are expected to come in fairly positive at 0.4% and 0.3% respectively, but they aren?t expected to completely reverse the weakness seen in the January numbers, which were disappointing, with any disappointment likely to weigh further on the pound."
Wall Street ended higher Thursday. The DJIA closed up 0.3%, the S&P 500 ended up 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite finished up 0.5%.
In Asia on Friday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 trades up 0.2%. The index reached the 20,000 mark for the first time since 2000. The Hang Seng is up 0.2%, above the 27,000 mark and at levels it hasn't seen since 2008. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite is trading up 1.1%.
Chinese inflation remained unchanged in March and producer prices continued to remain in negative territory, giving room for the central bank to adjust its policy to spur economic growth.
The consumer price index gained 1.4% in March from last year, the same rate of growth as seen in the prior month, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Friday. Inflation was forecast to ease marginally to 1.3%. On a monthly basis, consumer prices fell 0.5%, reversing a 1.2% rise in February. This was the first fall in four months.
Brent crude is quoted at around USD56.68 a barrel Friday, and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate is quoted at USD50.74 a barrel. Gold is quoted early Friday at USD1,196.94 an ounce.
Also in the economic calendar Friday US import and export price indices are at scheduled for 1330 BST.
In the UK corporate calendar, Vedanta Resources releases fourth-quarter production results, while Hays issues an interim management statement. XP Power publishes a first quarter interim management statement, while Huntsworth and Biofrontera release full-year results.
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
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