FTSE 100 preview: Index seen lower amid global economy worries

The FTSE 100 looks set to open lower this Friday, pressured by downbeat leads from the US and Asia, amid global economy worries. Investors are also likely to stay on the sidelines ahead of the non-farm payrolls due out on the other side of the Atlantic later today.

Index seen lower

IG’s opening calls suggest that the Footsie will start the last day of the week 0.67 percent lower at 7,110 points. The blue-chip index is likely to take cues from the US where shares fell amid global economy worries after the European Central Bank trimmed its  economic growth forecast for the current year and unveiled a new round of stimulus.

“They’re basically admitting the economy is quite soft,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, as quoted by CNBC. “This adds to one thing: uncertainty.” Asian shares have tracked the US lower, further pressured by China exports data which fell short of expectations. Reuters noted that while analysts had cautioned that the timing of the Lunar New Year made it difficult to draw a true signal from the data noise, the scale of the miss was alarming.

In the UK, the FTSE 100 fell in the previous session, giving up 38.45 points to end trading 0.53 percent lower at 7,157.55, as investors awaited fresh US-China trade news and related a string of company updates. Blue-chips, whose shares traded without the attraction of their latest dividend yesterday, also weighed on the blue-chip index.

Friday’s releases

There are no major macroeconomic releases out of Europe to guide the market further this morning. In the US, the non-farm payrolls for February are due out at 13:30 GMT and IG reports that 170,000 jobs are expected to have been created, from 304,000 a month earlier, while the unemployment rate is expected to have fallen to 3.8 percent from four percent.