(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open flat on Wednesday, with the focus to be on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's autumn statement.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open up 2.7 points at 7,484.69 on Wednesday. The index of London large-caps closed down 14.37 points, 0.2%, at 7,481.99 on Tuesday.

Hunt's Commons statement is expected to contain 110 different growth measures as he seeks to revive the UK's economy and the Tories' election chances.

Hunt will reportedly use his autumn statement to reduce headline rates of national insurance and make permanent a GBP10 billion-a-year tax break for companies that invest in new machinery and equipment. He will promise to cut business taxes, remove planning red tape and speed up access to the national grid.

Meanwhile, traders were weighing up the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting released on Tuesday evening.

Fed officials indicated interest rates would need to remain high for "some time" judging it as "critical" to return "unacceptably high" inflation to its 2% target. Officials "continued to judge that it was critical that the stance of monetary policy be kept sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to the committee's 2% objective over time."

Whilst they had been expected to be hawkish in tone, the minutes seemed to provide some support for the dollar.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.2516 early Wednesday, lower than USD1.2531 at the London equities close on Tuesday. The euro traded at USD1.0898, lower than USD1.0926. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY148.96, up versus JPY147.91.

In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.2%, the S&P 500 down 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.6%.

AI chipmaker Nvidia reported third-quarter profit and revenue that shattered expectations. In the three months to October 29, revenue trebled annually to USD18.12 billion, and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share surged to USD4.02 from USD0.58. However, the firm expected a sharp drop in its sales to China in its fourth quarter due to US export restrictions, though expects growth elsewhere to more than offset this.

Its shares slipped 1.7% in after-hours trade.

In other news in the AI sector, early Wednesday, OpenAI announced its co-founder Sam Altman will return as CEO, days after he was fired by the board. He was set to head up an AI team at Microsoft.

In a post on X, Altman said he had the support of Microsoft chief Satya Nadella for his return to OpenAI, and was looking forward to building on OpenAI's "strong partnership" with Microsoft.

In Asia on Wednesday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo closed up 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.4%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.1%.

Gold was quoted at USD1,999.90 an ounce early Wednesday, flat from USD1,999.42 on Tuesday.

Brent oil was trading at USD82.16 a barrel, higher than USD81.74.

In Wednesday's economic calendar, UK Chancellor Hunt delivers his autumn statement address around 1230 GMT. Elsewhere, there is eurozone consumer confidence data at 1500 GMT. There will also be the US weekly initial jobs claims, released ahead of Thursday's Thanksgiving public holiday in the US.

The local corporate calendar has third-quarter results from DIY retailer Kingfisher and full-year numbers from enterprise software firm Sage Group.

By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News deputy news editor

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