London equities are expected to open higher on Friday, futures indicate the FTSE 100 will rise around 40 points, to 10,879. The index closed 40.29 points higher at 10,846.70 on Thursday and is now up 1.5% for the week.
Wall Street finished Thursday’s session with a mixed performance, as weakness in technology stocks offset resilience among blue chips. The Nasdaq fell 1.2%, while the S&P 500 declined 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed a modest gain, edging up 17 points to close slightly higher. NVIDIA dropped 5.5% despite posting strong earnings, suggesting investors were taking profits.
In Asia, trading has been mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was marginally firmer, up less than 0.1% toward the close. China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.4%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1%. In contrast, South Korea’s Kospi fell 1%, while Australia’s ASX 200 ended the session 0.25% higher.
In currency markets, sterling weakened to $1.3475 from $1.3513 late Thursday. The euro strengthened slightly to $1.1805, while the dollar eased against the yen to ¥155.84.
In UK politics, the Green Party secured its first-ever parliamentary by-election victory in Gorton & Denton, placing added pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer after Labour slipped to third place.
In commodities, Brent crude fell to $71.25 a barrel from $72.58 late Thursday, while gold rose slightly to $5,192.25 an ounce.
Diplomatic talks between Iran and the US reportedly made “significant progress” in Switzerland, with further discussions planned for next week in Austria, offering some relief to geopolitical tensions.
