(Alliance News) - London's FTSE 100 is called to open markedly higher, taking confidence from strong trading in New York tech shares overnight, ahead of the afternoon's eurozone interest rate decision.
The European Central Bank is expected to announce a second interest rate cut of the cycle, but analysts expect forward guidance to be scarce.
The Frankfurt-based official lender is expected to trim its key deposit rate by 25 basis points to 3.50%, from 3.75% currently.
The ECB in July kept rates unchanged. The interest rate on the main refinancing operations, the marginal lending facility, and the deposit facility still stand at 4.25%, 4.50% and 3.75%, respectively.
The decision is at 1315 BST. A US producer price index reading, as well as the latest weekly jobless claims data, are released at 1330 BST.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 95.4 points higher, 1.2%, at 8,289.34 on Thursday. The index of London large-caps fell 12.04 points, or 0.2%, at 8,193.94 on Wednesday.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 0.3% higher, the S&P 500 shot up 1.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.2%.
Stocks rose in the wake of Wednesday's US consumer price inflation reading.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, annual consumer price inflation faded to 2.5% in August, from 2.9% in July.
A less tame reading of 2.6% was expected for August, according to consensus cited by FXStreet.
The BLS said it was the softest inflation reading since February 2021.
Excluding food and energy, the annual core inflation rate remained at 3.2% in August, where it stood in July. The reading met the FXStreet cited consensus.
"At the end of the day, though, while this CPI report wasn't what the market wanted, it's not enough to derail the Fed's rate-cutting plans next week. Stock investors know that the Fed put is alive and well and that could keep them happy for now," SPI Asset Management analyst Stephen Innes commented.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 jumped 3.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.2% higher, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was up 1.1%. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.0%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3052 early Thursday, from USD1.3026 at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday. The euro stood at USD1.1018, up slightly from USD1.1013. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY142.80, up from JPY141.58.
Brent oil was quoted at USD71.27 a barrel, rising from USD70.32. The price of gold climbed to USD2,518.83 an ounce, from USD2,512.09.
The local corporate calendar has a trading statement from rail ticketing booking platform Trainline and half-year results from mixers maker Fevertree Drinks.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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