Stocks in London are set to open lower on Thursday as oil prices fell following reports of progress in indirect talks between US and Iranian negotiators.
Futures indicate the FTSE 100 will open down 12 points, or 0.1%, at 10,466.54. The index closed down 18.78 points, or 0.2%, at 10,478.34 on Wednesday.
Sterling was stronger against the dollar in early trade, quoted at USD1.3289, up from USD1.3273 at the London equities close on Wednesday. Against the euro, the pound advanced to around EUR1.1668 from EUR1.1657.
The euro was little changed at USD1.1384, while the dollar slipped slightly against the yen to JPY162.38 from JPY162.43.
Oil prices moved lower after Qatar said indirect meetings between US and Iranian negotiators in Doha had made “positive progress”. The talks were held through Qatari and Pakistani mediators, with further discussions expected after the funeral of Iran’s late supreme leader.
The discussions focused on issues linked to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, including maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and frozen Iranian assets.
Brent crude was trading lower at USD70.74 a barrel on Thursday morning, down from USD71.85 on Wednesday.
Separately, the US said it would not extend the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement in its current form, meaning the trade pact will move into annual reviews unless a country decides to withdraw. The agreement remains in force, but the decision is likely to add uncertainty for North American businesses, particularly in heavily integrated sectors such as automobiles.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed slightly lower, the S&P 500 fell 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.7%.
Asian markets were mostly weaker on Thursday. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.6%, while China’s Shanghai Composite declined 1.5%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.7% as trading resumed after Wednesday’s closure, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.1%.
Meta shares jumped on Wednesday after reports that the company is exploring plans to sell excess artificial intelligence computing capacity, potentially putting it in competition with cloud providers including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
The reported plan would allow Meta to monetise part of its AI infrastructure investment by offering computing capacity and access to internally developed AI models to business customers.
Gold was lower at USD4,063.33 an ounce early Thursday, down from USD4,080.66 late Wednesday.
