Stocks called down amid mixed trade in Asia

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Monday, following mixed trade in Asia overnight.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open down 25.47 points, 0.3%, at 7,538.9 on Monday. The index of London large-caps closed up 35.21 points, or 0.5% at 7,564.37 on Friday.

A US central bank official said Saturday that more interest rate hikes "will likely be needed" to bring inflation down further, shortly after policymakers lifted rates to the highest level since 2001.

Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman's prepared remarks to an event in Colorado also came after a mixed employment report on Friday showing that hiring in the US has slowed but wage gains remained robust.

Bowman said she supported the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee's decision for a rate hike in July given "strong economic data and still elevated inflation."

Meanwhile, new analysis from the UK showed that employment remains lower in the UK than before the pandemic, as Labour accused the Conservatives of "failing" to get people back to work.

The research on official figures up to May showed the employment rate is lower now than it was in nine out of the 12 regions and nations pre-pandemic.

But the Conservatives pointed out that Labour-run Wales was among those experiencing the deepest dip since December 2019.

London had the largest fall with 80,000 fewer in employment in a more than 2% fall since before Covid-19 struck, according to the analysis by Labour.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.2723 early Monday, lower than USD1.2765 at the London equities close on Friday.

The euro traded at USD1.0987 early Monday, lower than USD1.1037 late Friday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY142.10, up versus JPY141.82.

In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite were both down 0.4%. The S&P 500 was down 0.5%.

In Asia on Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.3%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was down 0.3%.

Gold was quoted at USD1,937.42 an ounce early Monday, lower than USD1,940.94 on Friday. Brent oil was trading at USD86.07 a barrel early Monday, higher than USD85.77 late Friday.

In UK corporate calendar on Monday, there are half-year results from recruitment firm PageGroup and deepwater exploration and production company Kosmos Energy.

The economic calendar next week has the UK Halifax house price index on Monday, inflation data from China on Wednesday, and the latest US weekly unemployment claims report on Thursday.

By Sophie Rose, Alliance News reporter

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