LONDON (Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 is pointed higher Tuesday ahead of inflation data from the eurozone and with the focus likely to continue to be on Greek debt negotiations.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande met in Berlin on Monday as the negotiations over the Greek debt crisis hang in the balance, ahead of the country's deadline for an International Monetary Fund debt repayment on Friday. The working dinner between the French and German leaders was officially called to consider steps to forge a single digital market in Europe as well to co-ordinate the development of new energy policy across the region and steps to boost youth employment. The meeting in Berlin also was attended by the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker as well Benoit Potier, who heads up the so-called European Round Table of top industrialists.
The leaders did not comment on the standoff between cash-strapped Greece and its creditors. However, Greece could form part of the talks in Berlin, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Monday but insisted that it would not be the meeting's main theme.
"Reports last night were doing the rounds of a high-level meeting to thrash out the framework of a deal between IMF chief Christine Lagarde, ECB President Mario Draghi, EU President Juncker and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, as speculation grew that a Greece default was a matter of days away," says Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
"It?s unclear what could be achieved at such a meeting given that no-one from the Greek government was present, and given the divisions that still remain between the parties, which suggests any proposal could well take the form of an ultimatum," Hewson adds.
Futures according to IG point the FTSE 100 to open higher at 6,961.0. The index ended down 0.4% at 6,953.58, on Monday in response to contrasting economic data from the world's two largest economies, the US and China, while a report showed the UK manufacturing sector also grew by less than expected.
On Wall Street Monday, the DJIA and the S&P 500 both closed up 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite ended up 0.3%.
In Asia on Tuesday the Japanese Nikkei is down 0.1%, the Hang Seng trades down 0.7% and the Shanghai Composite is flat.
In the UK corporate calendar, there are full-year results from LondonMetric Property, Synergy Health and AO World. Building materials company Wolseley issues a third quarter interim management statement and oil services company AMEC Foster Wheeler issues a trading statement.
In the economic calendar, German unemployment data is at 0855 BST, UK net lending and mortgage approvals is at 0930 BST as is UK construction purchasing managers' index. Later in the morning is eurozone inflation at 1000 BST and US factory orders is at 1500 BST.
By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
