LONDON (Alliance News) - London-listed stocks are set to open marginally higher Friday, though concerns over the situation in Greece continue to hold back European stock markets.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index to open at 7,044.1. The index closed up 0.1% at 7,040.92 on Thursday, but stocks had remained subdued for much of the session as Greece's financial troubles continued to weigh on investor sentiment.
Greece is due to make a EUR300 million payment to the International Monetary Fund on Friday next week and there has been a conflict of opinions about how close a deal between Greece and its creditors is. Athens said it expects to clinch a debt deal by Sunday, but the International Monetary Fund joined Germany and the European Commission in ruling out an early end to the tortuous negotiations with Greece.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde no longer rules out Greece exiting the eurozone. "Greece's exit is a possibility," Lagarde told Germany's daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview published on the newspaper's website on Thursday.
The IMF chief said that such a move would not be easy but would "probably not mean the end of the euro."
"It is very unlikely that we will reach a comprehensive solution in the next few days," Lagarde says.
Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda says the constant optimism from Greek officials, which is quickly quashed by officials representing the creditors has created a kind of "boy cries wolf scenario". However, Erlam is somewhat surprised that there seems to be a bit more optimism about the deal from investors.
"I do find it interesting that despite the rejections of Greek claims of deals being done, investors do appear a little more optimistic that progress is being made and that maybe, this optimism from Greece is being spurred by a willingness by its creditors to offer it a little rope," Erlam says.
"I don't see this coming from pension or labour market reforms but they may be willing to ease their stance on fiscal surplus targets and future debt forgiveness if Greece can hit its targets," he adds.
On Wall Street Thursday, the DJIA closed down 0.2%, the S&P 500 closed down 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite ended down 0.2%.
In Asia Friday, the Japanese Nikkei closed up 0.1%, the Hang Seng trades up 0.2% and the Shanghai Composite is up 0.1%.
Consumer prices in Japan increased at a slower rate in April compared to the previous month, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. The consumer price index was up 0.6% on year in April, slower than the previous month's 2.3% growth. Core inflation, which strips out the volatile costs of food, advanced 0.3%, slower than the previous month's 2.2% increase. On a monthly basis, overall CPI were up 0.4% and core inflation rose 0.3%.
Japan's unemployment rate dropped unexpectedly to a 18-year low in April, the Ministry of Communications and Internal Affairs said. The jobless rate came in at a seasonally adjusted 3.3% in April, down slightly from 3.4% in the previous month. Economists had expected the rate to remain stable at 3.4%.
Synergy Health and STERIS Corp said they intend to contest the US Federal Trade Commission's attempt to block STERIS's proposed USD1.9 billion cash and share takeover of Synergy Health. The FTC has informed Synergy that it intends to seek to block the acquisition. STERIS and Synergy said in a statement that they welcome "a full judicial review of the competitive effects of the combination". STERIS is based in the US state of Ohio, while FTSE 250 constituent Synergy Health is UK based.
Synergy Health's share price has fallen over 16% since last Friday amid speculation of a block of the acquisition by the FTC.
British Land Co said it has partner Oxford Properties have completed three lettings deals at the Leadenhall Building in the City of London. British Land said the lettings at the building, known as the Cheesegrater, have been made with insurer Brit, Spanish banking group Banco Sabadell and investment manager Kames Capital. The building is now 84% let.
TeleCity Group agreed terms on a GBP2.35 billion cash and share takeover offer from US peer Equinix Inc, and terminated its previous deal to acquire Dutch data centre company Interxion Holding. Under the terms of the deal TeleCity shareholders will receive 572.5 pence in cash and 0.0327 shares in the new company per share, which it said values each TeleCity share at 1,145.0 pence.
In the economic calendar, the market's focus will be on US first quarter GDP at 1330 BST as investors look for more clues as to when the US Federal Reserve will lift its interest rates. Economists expect GDP to show a 0.8% decline. The Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index is at 1500 BST.
By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
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