(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Wednesday, ahead of the latest UK inflation report, after US President Donald Trump extended the ceasefire with Iran to allow negotiations to continue.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open down 11.9 points at 10,486.19 on Wednesday. The index of London large-caps closed down 110.99 points, 1.1%, at 10,498.09 on Tuesday.
Sterling was at USD1.3526 on Wednesday morning, up from USD1.3507 at the London equities close on Tuesday. Against the euro, sterling was slightly higher at EUR1.1509 from EUR1.1498.
The euro was a little higher at USD1.1753 from USD1.1747. Against the yen, the dollar was lower at JPY159.19 versus JPY159.43.
US President Donald Trump extended the US ceasefire with Iran to allow more time for talks, just hours before hostilities were set to resume, but he vowed to maintain a blockade of Tehran's ports.
Trump indefinitely pushed back the end of the truce, crediting a request from mediator Pakistan and stressing the need to give Iran's "fractured" leadership time to form a proposal.
The fate of peace talks hosted by Pakistan was hanging in the balance following Trump's announcement.
A White House official confirmed that Vice President JD Vance would not travel to Pakistan for talks on Tuesday as previously planned, pending the submission of an Iranian proposal.
Brent oil was trading slightly lower at USD97.69 a barrel on Wednesday morning from USD98.03 on Tuesday.
Prior to the ceasefire extension, Iran preemptively threatened to attack its Gulf neighbors' oil production facilities if their territory was used to attack it once the ceasefire expired.
Pepperstone analyst Michael Brown said: "Providing that the broader direction of travel remains towards the conflict concluding, risk should remain underpinned, and equity dips continue to be viewed as buying opportunities."
In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.6%, the S&P 500 0.6% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite retreated 0.6%
In Asia on Wednesday, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was up 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.3% higher, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 1.4%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was 1.1% lower.
BHP Group maintained its full‑year guidance and said it now expected copper to come in towards the upper end of its range despite softer quarterly output.
The Melbourne, Australia-based diversified miner said copper production in the third quarter ended March 31 fell 7.1% to 476,800 tonnes from 513,400 tonnes in the same period a year earlier.
Sales also decreased 11% to 118,700 tonnes from 133,300 tonnes.
Iron ore production grew 1.7% to 62.8 million tonnes from 61.7 million tonnes, while sales declined 0.7% to 60.2 million tonnes from 60.7 million tonnes.
Gold was higher at USD4,769.60 an ounce early on Wednesday from USD4,744.11 late Tuesday.
Wednesday's global economic calendar has UK inflation figures shortly and eurozone consumer confidence data.
Wednesday's local corporate calendar has trading statements from consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser, distribution and services company Bunzl and wealth and asset manager Aberdeen.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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