(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open slightly lower on Thursday, with little economic data to provide much direction before next week's central bank decisions.
The economic calendar has the latest consumer price index reading from Ireland at 1100 GMT.
However, Thursday's UK corporate calendar is more full. There are trading statements from construction firm Balfour Beatty and cigarette maker British American Tobacco. There also will be half-year results from packaging firm DS Smith, online estate agent Purplebricks, and retailer Frasers Group.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open down 3.5 points, 0.1%, at 7,485.69 on Thursday. The FTSE 100 index closed down 32.20 points, or 0.4% at 7,489.19 on Wednesday.
"There appears to be little in the way of significant direction in markets at the moment, hardly surprising given next week's looming central bank decisions, and we will probably continue to see further scratchiness in the upcoming days," said CMC Markets' Michael Hewson.
The US Federal Reserve will announce its latest interest decision on Wednesday next week, with the Bank of England and European Central Bank to follow on Thursday.
In the meantime, the spectre of a 'winter of discontent' looms over the UK, with hundreds of thousands of workers planning to strike over December. These rail staff, bus drivers, nurses, civil servants and postal workers.
Unions have called on the UK government to engage in "meaningful" pay talks and to stop its "smoke and mirrors" tactics.
In a joint letter to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady and the chair of the union public sector liaison group and general secretary of Unison, Christina McAnea, accused ministers of refusing to negotiate in good faith and of "hiding behind" pay review bodies.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.2196 early Thursday, unchanged from USD1.2194 at the London equities close on Wednesday.
The euro traded at USD1.0509 early Thursday, similarly flat from USD1.0506 late Wednesday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY136.85, up slightly versus JPY136.56.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended mostly lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average marginally higher, the S&P 500 down 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.5%.
"Generally, market mood has been pretty subdued as the focus shifts from what the Fed might do next to what the global economy is doing already. Interest rate hikes might cool inflation, but the reality is they'll also cool just about everything else. The question that's been circling investors' minds is how hard will the landing be and how long will it take for economies to get back on their feet?" remarked AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson.
In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index was down 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 3.0%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was down 0.8.
Gold was quoted at USD1,785.43 an ounce early Thursday in London, little changed from USD1,783.10 late on Wednesday, while Brent oil fetched USD77.58 a barrel, a touch lower than than USD78.00.
By Elizabeth Winter, senior markets reporter
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