London stocks are set to open lower on Wednesday as rising oil prices and continued tensions in the Middle East weigh on investor sentiment.
Futures indicate the FTSE 100 will open around 51.2 points, or 0.5%, lower at 10,760.46. The index closed down 10.47 points, or 0.1%, at 10,811.66 on Tuesday.
Brent crude continued its march towards the psychologically important $100-a-barrel level, trading at $99.01 early Wednesday after closing at $98.00 on Tuesday. Prices reached around $99.70 earlier in the session.
Risk appetite remains under pressure following reports of US strikes on targets near Iran’s Kharg Island, while several Saudi energy facilities have halted operations following attacks by Houthi forces.
Sterling edged higher to $1.3551 early Wednesday from $1.3548 at Tuesday’s London close. Against the euro, the pound was unchanged at €1.1643.
The euro strengthened marginally to $1.1634, while the dollar weakened against the Japanese yen to ¥153.31 from ¥154.18.
Wall Street closed lower on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 1.2%, the S&P 500 losing 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite declining 0.3%.
US Treasury yields eased slightly overnight. The 10-year yield stood at 4.79%, compared with 4.80% at Tuesday’s London close, while the 30-year yield slipped to 5.24% from 5.25%.
Asian markets were also mostly lower on Wednesday. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.3%, China’s Shanghai Composite declined 0.1% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.5%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was marginally lower.
Gold fell to $4,394.41 an ounce from $4,494.00 at Tuesday’s London close.
On Wednesday’s UK corporate calendar, Energean, Gym Group and WAG Payment Solutions are due to report half-year results, while Frontier Developments and Pan African Resources will publish full-year results.
