(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Friday, ahead of UK house price index data which is due out at 0700 GMT.

Looking ahead to the US schedule, Swissquote's Ipek Ozkardeskaya commented: "The market, and dollar traders, are in a mood to send the US dollar lower. As such, US jobs data in line with expectations – or ideally softer than expected – should lead to a further dollar depreciation into the weekly closing bell.

"But if the data shows any surprise strength, [Federal Reserve Chair Jerome] Powell's mostly ignored remarks about a 'remarkably strong US economy and decreased risks in jobs market' will come back to the headlines and could spoil the mood among Fed doves."

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open down 12.5 points, 0.2%, at 8,336.88 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed up 0.2% on Thursday.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.2747 early Friday, lower than USD1.2753 at the London equities close on Thursday.

The euro traded at USD1.0577 early Friday, higher than USD1.0568 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted lower at JPY149.79 versus JPY150.17.

In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.6%, the S&P 500 down 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite also down 0.2%.

In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 0.8%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.6%.

Gold was quoted at USD2,639.55 an ounce early Friday, higher than USD2,635.39 on Thursday.

Brent oil was trading at USD71.99 a barrel early Friday, lower than USD72.22 late Thursday.

In Friday's corporate calendar, Hargreaves Lansdown holds its annual general meeting. Berkeley Group and Schroder European Real Estate publish half-year and annual results, respectively.

In the economic calendar on Friday, US nonfarm payroll data comes out this afternoon.

By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter

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