FTSE 100 preview: Index to shrug off weak US and Asia leads

The FTSE 100 looks set to start the last trading day of the week in positive territory, despite negative leads from the US and Asia. Vodafone (LON:VOD) will be in focus on the corporate front following news of a network deal with Telecom Italia.

Index seen steady

IG’s opening calls suggest that the Footsie will start trading 0.17 percent higher at 7,180 points this morning. Investors are likely to shrug off a downbeat lead from the US where shares slipped last night, pressured by weak economic data.

“The fundamental data, as it gets worse, will start having a negative effect on asset prices again over the next couple of quarters,” said Hugo Rogers, chief investment strategist at Deltec International Group, as quoted by CNBC. “At that point, the Fed might have to do something more dramatic than waiting and seeing.” Asian shares meanwhile have tracked the US lower this morning.

In the UK, the FTSE 100 fell in the previous session, giving up 61.23 points to close 0.85 percent lower at 7,167.39, with hefty falls in BAE Systems (LON:BA) and Centrica (LON:CNA) weighing on the blue-chip index.

Friday’s calendar

Today’s macroeconomic releases include Germany’s business climate IFO index for February, due out at 09:00 GMT, to be followed by the final January consumer price index for the eurozone at 10:00 GMT. In company releases, Pearson (LON:PSON) is scheduled to post results this morning following its deal earlier in the week to offload its K12 business in the US.

In other news, Reuters reports that Vodafone and Telecom Italia have said that they are planning to enter into a new infrastructure sharing partnership to enable faster deployment of fifth-generation mobile phone services.