(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to return some of last week's gains at Monday's market open, following a lacklustre performance on Wall Street amid inflation worries.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 will open down 13.1 points, 0.2%, at 7,698.61 on Monday. The index of London large-caps closed up 114.18 points, 1.5%, at 7,711.71. on Friday.

Markets in New York will be closed on Monday to celebrate Washington's birthday.

In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended in the red, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.4%, the S&P 500 down 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.8%.

Sentiment suffered amid another set of surprise inflation data. US producer prices rose sharper than expected in January, data from the the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Friday. The figures followed hot consumer prices index data earlier last week.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.2615 early Monday, higher than USD1.2582 at the London equities close on Friday. The euro traded at USD1.0780, rising from USD1.0775. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY150.03, down slightly versus JPY150.13.

In Asia on Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo ended flat, with Nintendo shedding 5.8% following reports of a delay to its next-generation console.

The successor to the popular Switch was targeted for release at the end of this year but several publishers have now been told to expect it to slip into next year, Bloomberg News reported, citing unnamed sources. That would mean that the next console would miss the key Christmas holiday shopping period in December.

Markets in mainland China reopened after the Lunar New Year holiday period, with the Shanghai Composite up 1.2%. Meanwhile, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.9%.

China's new year holiday spending last week surged past pre-pandemic levels, official figures showed, a rare bright spot for an economy struggling with sluggish consumption and deflation. Domestic spending on entertainment, dining and travel soared during this year's "Golden Week", which officially ended on Saturday, according to a statement from Beijing's Ministry of Culture & Tourism.

The People's Bank of China will decide on interest rates overnight on Tuesday, with FXStreet cited consensus expecting the key one-year loan prime rate, which serves as a benchmark for corporate loans, to remain at 3.45%. On Sunday, the PBoC kept the one-year medium-term lending facility rate steady at 2.50%.

The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.1%.

In commodities, gold was quoted at USD2,021.55 an ounce early Monday, higher than USD2,009.01 on Friday. Brent oil was trading at USD82.87 a barrel, little changed from USD82.88.

In the UK company calendar on Monday, there are full-year results from MoneySupermarket.com and Bank of Cyprus. There are no major economic releases scheduled.

By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News deputy news editor

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