City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open up 18 points from yesterday's close of 6,529, after US tocks finished with decent gains on Thursday on the back of jobless claims, which came in below expectations, signalling further improvement in the US labour market.

The S&P 500 finished 0.6% higher at 1,563, just a couple of points from the record-high of 1,565 reached in October 2007 before the financial crisis hammered equity markets across the globe. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average registered its 10th consecutive day of gains, the longest streak since November 1996.

Today's economic announcements include the UK balance of trade and current account, the US CPI and industrial production, EU CPI and the harmonised index of consumer prices, and the German wholesale price index.

In UK company news, pub group JD Wetherspoon has posted a 'reasonable' set of results for the half year ended December 31st, with a 10% rise in revenue, like-for-like sales up 6.9%, but pre-tax profit down 2.7%. The group said its biggest threat continues to be the VAT disparity between supermarkets and pubs and the continuing imposition of stealth taxes. In the six weeks to March 10th, like-for-like sales increased by 7.3%, with total sales increasing by 9.9%.

Halma, the safety, health and environmental technology group, has acquired ASL Holdings, a Northampton-based business which designs and manufactures machine-to-machine (M2M) communication products which are incorporated into SMART meters for remote data monitoring and a range of other applications in the utility, transport and retail sectors. A cash consideration of £6.5m was paid.

Online gaming group bwin.party digital entertainment reported a slip in revenue in 2012 as its performance owing to a weak performance in Poker, and said that the top line is expected to decline further in 2013. Revenue totalled €801.6m in the 12 months to December 31st, down 2.0% from €816m in 2011.

NR

Related share prices
Halma (HLMA) share price
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) share price
Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) share price