Proactive Investors - The FTSE 100 is expected to open higher on Thursday after US markets rose after the latest FOMC minutes and Asian markets made strong gains.
Spread betting companies are calling London’s lead index up by around 30 points after closing down 8.18 points at 7,620.03 on Wednesday.
In London, the early focus will be a GDP reading and updates from Brooks Macdonald, Dechra, easyJet (LON:EZJ) and Wise.
"US markets finished the day modestly higher with the Fed minutes not adding too much extra colour to where rates might go, ahead of today's US CPI report," said CMC Markets' Michael Hewson.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.2% on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.7%.
The minutes from the latest FOMC meeting showed most officials expect one more interest rate increase before the end of the year and signalled monetary policy would remain restrictive for some time.
In Asia, shares of China’s four biggest state banks climbed after Central Huijin, Beijing’s sovereign wealth fund responsible for public financial institutions, expanded its stakes in the lenders.
The shares of China Construction Bank, the country’s second-largest lender by assets, jumped by as much as 3.6%. Shares in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (HK:1398), Agricultural Bank Of China (HK:1288) and Bank of China (HK:3988) also gained following the announcement.
Asian markets rose strongly - the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 1.7%, in China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.9%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 2.1%.