London looks set for a steady start on Thursday though the uncertainties from the continuing Greek debt saga mean Europe is not expected to immediately replicate overnight rallies of Wall Street or Asia.
New York’s main benchmarks all posted strong gains in what was the best single session in the market for a number of weeks.
The Dow Jones closed 236 points, 1.3%, higher at 18,000 while the S&P 500 added 1.2% to 2,105 and the Nasdaq gained 1.25% to 5,076.
Japan’s Nikkei climbed almost 300 point, 1.45%, to 20,338 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up 0.8% and Australia’s ASX 200 gained around 1.7%,
The Shanghai Composite and India’s Sensex, however, were both in negative territory with the former down 0.3% and the latter about 1% lower.
Crude oil prices remain steady with Brent just below US$66 per barrel and WTI around US$61. Spot gold, meanwhile, was up about 50 cents an ounce trading at around US$1,185.
Ahead of the open on the London Stock Exchange UK spreadbetter and CFD provider IG Markets is calling the FTSE 100 just a pair of points lower, at 6,820 to 6,825.
In terms of market features, Home Retail Corp (LON:HOME) reports first quarter numbers on Thursday and that means catalogue ordering giant Argos steps into the frame.
And owner Home Retail has already warned shareholders to buckle up and expect a bumpy ride in the first half of the year. The market consensus is for first quarter LFL (like-for-like) sales to be down 4% year-on-year at Argos, though gross margin is tipped to rise by a quarter of a percentage point.
Other significant announcements expected -
Final: CareTech Holdings (LON:CTH), First Property Group (LON:FPO), Halma (LON:HLMA), Mulberry (LON:MUL), Real Estate Credit Investments (LON:RECI)
Interim: Redhall Group (LON:RHL)
Economic: UK – RICS housing price balance. Asia – Chinese industrial production. US – Retail sales