FTSE to open higher as UK wakes up to hung parliament

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open up 39 points on Friday, after closing down 0.38% at 7,449.98 on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the UK was waking up to a hung parliament after Thursday’s snap general election, with the incumbent Conservative Party projected to win 314 seats - down 12 - while Labour was projected to win 261 seats - up 29 - after 645 of 650 constituencies had been counted.

At least 326 seats are needed to form a majority government.

Stocks to watch

Centrica announced on Friday that the CQ Energy Canada Partnership, the Canadian E&P joint venture in which it owned a 60% interest, was to be sold to a consortium comprising MIE Holdings Corporation, the Can-China Global Resource Fund and Mercuria for a purchase price of CAD 722m (£413m) in cash. The FTSE 100 company's net share of sale proceeds was expected to be approximately £240m after adjustments.

Animal genetics specialist Genus said it intends to vigorously defend itself against new litigation in the US, as rival Sexing Technologies' owner Inguran accused the UK company of infringing seven of its patents and claimed it breached trade secrets and contracts. Inguran and its ST arm filed patent infringement proceedings against Genus and its subsidiaries ABS Global and Premium Genetics in a Wisconsin district court, alleging that ABS infringed seven ST patents and asserted trade secret and breach of contract claims.

Newspaper round-up

A humiliated Theresa May called today for a “period of stability” as she was urged to resign after her gamble on a snap election backfired. A hung parliament was inevitable after the Tories failed to win in Labour’s heartlands and lost ground in the south as voters rejected her appeal for a personal mandate to negotiate Brexit. - The Times

A top City investor has warned against bending the UK’s listing rules to encourage Saudi Arabia to pick London for the £1 trillion-plus stock market flotation of Aramco, saying that to do so would be “highly inappropriate”. Royal London, which manages more than £100 billion on behalf of its customers, said that allowing Saudi Aramco to list only 5 per cent of its shares, despite rules insisting that companies must sell at least a quarter of them, would damage London’s reputation as a financial centre. - The Times

Theresa May's future as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservatives was being openly questioned after her decision to hold a snap election disastrously backfired. With Britain facing a hung parliament, Mrs May pledged to offer "stability" if the Tories end up as the largest party with the most votes, as expected. But Conservative former minister Anna Soubry said she should "consider her position" and take personal responsibility for a "dreadful" campaign and a "deeply flawed" manifesto after choosing to go to the country three years early in the hope of extending her majority. - Telegraph

Jeremy Corbyn said the face of British politics has changed and called on Theresa May to resign after her snap general election left Britain with a hung parliament 11 days before Brexit talks begin. Speaking as he was returned as MP for Islington North, the Labour leader declared: “Politics has changed. Politics isn’t going back into the box where it was before. What’s happened is people have said they’ve had quite enough of austerity politics.” - Guardian

US close

US stock markets hit an all-time intraday high during a senate testimony where former FBI director James Comey gave evidence against President Donald Trump over alleged Russian interference in last year's election, though finished only modestly higher.

The lack of shocking new revelations during the public section of the testimony buoyed the markets, with the Dow Jones index finishing a almost nine points higher at 21,182.53, while the Nasdaq composite gained more than 24 points at 21,182.53 and the S&P 500 put on just over half a point to close at 2,433.79.

Testifying in front of a Senate intelligence committee hearing, Comey stated his belief that he was fired due to the ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign links with Russia.

In a series of damning criticisms of the current President and his administration, Comey said that comments made about him and the FBI in the aftermath of his removal were “lies, plain and simple”.

Comey told Senators he had felt directed to end his probe into national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was later forced to resign just weeks after his appointment.

Trump's personal attorney later issued a statement highlighting Comey's confirmation that the president was not personally the subject of the Russia probe, while disputing other parts of the testimony, including Comey's assertion that the president had indicated he wanted the FBI to ease off from investigating Flynn or that he had told Comey he expected loyalty.