London pre-open: Stocks to pull back after failed Greek talks
UK stocks were expected to decline on Thursday morning after five straight days of gains, after another meeting between Greece and its creditors ended in a deadlock.
Abrdn
136.20p
16:40 19/04/24
Financial Services
14,075.11
17:09 19/04/24
FTSE 100
7,895.85
16:59 19/04/24
FTSE 250
19,391.30
17:09 19/04/24
FTSE 350
4,341.08
17:09 19/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,296.41
17:08 19/04/24
Life Insurance
5,741.37
17:09 19/04/24
London Stock Exchange Group
8,984.00p
17:15 19/04/24
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution
4,928.34
16:30 11/04/24
Wood Group (John)
150.60p
17:05 19/04/24
City sources predict the FTSE 100 open 15 points lower than Wednesday’s close of 6,844.80.
"European equities are set to slide on the open as the bulls come to the realisation that the latest round of talks is to go the way of previous fruitless attempts at a deal,” said dealer Jonathan Sudaria from London Capital Group.
Greece remained "firm on its position”, according to a Greek government official, as the Hellenic nation rejected calls on Wednesday night to accept more austerity measures in exchange for unlocking further aid.
Hans-Jörg Schelling, the Austrian finance minister, criticised Greece's attitude towards debt restructuring as “the most significant chunk” in the negotiations.
The country faces a €1.6bn repayment to the IMF on 30 June and must reach a deal with its creditors before that date to unlock further aid or default on its debt. Negotiations will continue in Brussels on Thursday.
While everyone will be keeping one eye on Greece, data from the US released during the session will likely garner some attention.
The latest numbers on filings for unemployment benefits and are expected to have remained close to levels not seen 2000 last week. US jobless claims are forecast to have risen by just 6,000 to 273,000 in the week ended 20 June after dropping 12,000 to 267,000 the week before.
US personal income and spending numbers for May will also be released and are expected to show an improvement. Incomes are predicted to have increased by 0.5% after a 0.4% gain in April, while spending is said to have risen by 0.7% after no growth the previous month.
Meanwhile, Markit’s US service-sector purchasing managers’ index is expected to have picked up to 56.5 in June from 56.2 in May, showing that growth has accelerated slightly this month.
Stocks to watch
Equity, bond and derivatives markets operator London Stock Exchange Group said it continued to perform well in the second quarter with growth in the index business and increased activity in clearing operations. The company also said it was making progress on the divestment process for Russell Investment Management, which was put up for sale following the Frank Russell deal.
Standard Life said it will close its insurance business in Singapore, subject to regulatory approvals, and the business will no longer accept new applications or contributions to existing plans with immediate effect. The closure will give rise to a non-operating loss in the order of £45m covering impairment of intangibles, including deferred acquisition costs, as well as other costs of closure, the company said.
Oil and gas company John Wood Group reported an expected decline in performance for the six months to 30 June 2015. The company said first half figures for 2015 would be down compared with 2014 due to challenging conditions in the oil and gas markets.