London stocks are expected to open lower on Friday after a sharp sell-off across Asian markets, as escalating US-Iran tensions weighed on investor sentiment.
FTSE 100 futures point to a decline of around 40 points, or 0.4%, to 10,529.04. The blue-chip index closed 0.5% higher at 10,572.24 on Thursday.
Sterling softened to US$1.3465 from US$1.3483 at Thursday’s London close, while the pound also slipped against the euro to EUR1.1768.
The conflict in the Middle East intensified overnight after Iranian state media reported US strikes on an airport, a railway station in Bandar Abbas and two bridges in southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran said it responded by targeting US military infrastructure in Kuwait, while Bahrain and Qatar also reported attacks early Friday, underlining the risk of a wider regional spillover.
Despite the escalation, Brent crude eased to US$84.08 a barrel from US$84.75 late Thursday.
Asian markets fell sharply. Japan’s Nikkei tumbled 5.3%, China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 3.0%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 2.4% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.7%.
Wall Street also closed lower overnight, with the Dow Jones down 0.2%, the S&P 500 off 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite falling 1.5%.
Netflix shares dropped 9% in after-hours trading after second-quarter revenue narrowly missed expectations and the company said it would reduce disclosure of viewership data.
Gold eased to US$3,988.22 an ounce from US$4,014.58 on Thursday.
In Friday’s UK corporate calendar, Bridgepoint reports half-year results, Burberry issues a trading statement and Taylor Maritime releases full-year results.
