LONDON MARKET EARLY CALL: FTSE 100 seen up ahead of UK GDP

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Friday ahead of a raft of UK economic data, with investors also keeping a close eye on developments in the Strait of Hormuz as oil tops USD150.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 16.4 points higher, 0.2%, at 10,625.32 on Friday. The index of London large-caps closed down 0.6% at 10,608.92 on Thursday.

Brent oil was trading at USD105.56 a barrel early Friday, marginally higher than USD105.51 late Thursday.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said their navy had targeted a US unmanned surface vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.

"The Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted a Saildrone Explorer-type unmanned surface vessel in the Strait of Hormuz area," the Guards said in a statement carried by the Sepah news agency under the headline "Destruction of a US Saildrone in the Strait of Hormuz".

The military force added that the sea drone had been used by the US Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain.

Back in the UK, attention turns to a busy run of economic data due at 0700 BST.

Gross domestic product is expected to have been flat on a monthly basis in July, following 0.3% growth in June. Industrial production is forecast to have fallen 0.2% month-on-month, matching June's decline, while the UK is expected to report a GBP22.3 billion goods trade deficit.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.3513 early Friday, lower than USD1.3532 at the London equities close on Thursday. Against the euro, sterling was marginally higher at EUR1.1637 from EUR1.1636 a day prior.

The euro traded at USD1.1612 early Friday, lower than USD1.1625 late Thursday, after the European Central Bank raised interest rates for the second time this year.

Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY154.05 versus JPY154.10.

In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.6%, the S&P 500 down 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.7%.

In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo fell 2.3%.

Japan's producer prices edged lower in August, according to the Bank of Japan.

The preliminary producer price index fell 0.2% month-on-month, reversing an upwardly revised 0.4% increase in July and undershooting the FXStreet-cited consensus forecast for no change. On an annual basis, producer prices rose 7.6%, easing from an upwardly revised 7.7% in July but exceeding expectations for 7.4% growth.

In China, the Shanghai Composite fell 1.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong lost 0.5%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was down 0.9%.

Gold was quoted at USD4,405.56 an ounce early Friday, higher than USD4,363.96 on Thursday.

In Friday's corporate calendar, Berkeley Group Holdings issues a trading statement, while Integrated Diagnostics Holdings reports half-year results.

In the economic calendar on Friday, alongside UK GDP, trade balance, industrial production and manufacturing output data, the US releases consumer price index figures and the monthly budget statement.

By Eva Castanedo, Alliance News senior economics reporter

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