London’s blue-chip stocks are expected to open lower again on Friday as Asian markets took a tumble overnight.
The Shanghai Composite made a triple digit loss, down 109 points to 2,889, while the Hang Seng lost more than one per cent and the Nikkei 225 eased half a per cent.
Bernard Aw, at spread-betting firm IG, said: “Asia is likely to end the week with better risk appetite than when it started, although the mixed performance from the overnight markets suggests that any risk uptake today may be restrained.”
The FTSE100 is expected to follow this trend, sliding to around 5,912
On the corporate front, Friday’s trading session follows four days of ups and downs for London-listed retailers and their shareholders.
Credit expert Experian (LON:EXPN) would probably stress the importance of budgeting in and around the festive period.
Its own finances will be under scrutiny tomorrow when the firm sends out a trading update.
Not much else in the way of company announcements, although there’s US data to look out for.
Stats will tell us how much the manufacturing sector is acting as a dampener on US economic activity (industrial production data for December) and how far the US consumer is offsetting this (retail sales for December), both released on Friday.