(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to edge lower on Monday, as investors look ahead to a central bank-dominated week.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open down 7.78 points, 0.1%, at 7,703.6 on Monday. The index of London large-caps closed up 38.30 points, or 0.5% at 7,711.38 on Friday and ended the week 3.1% higher.

The economic calendar this week has interest rate decisions from the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday and the Bank of England on Thursday, with the Bank of Japan to follow on Friday.

The US central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged after raising them to their highest level in 22 years in July. Investors will be paying attention to any guidance on future rate hikes, as well as any hints on the timeline for future rate cuts.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.2397 early Monday, slightly lower than USD1.2401 at the London equities close on Friday. The euro traded at USD1.0673, little changed from USD1.0672. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY147.65, down versus JPY147.80.

Overnight, new data pointed to continuing slow activity in the UK housing sector. The average new seller asking price in September was "lower than is usual" for this time of the year, according Rightmove.

The Rightmove house price index showed the average new seller asking price increased by 0.4% month-on-month, or GBP1,386, in September to GBP366,281. This was lower than usual for this time of year, the property portal noted. On an annual basis, prices fell 0.4% in September.

Rightmove said this was the biggest drop since March 2019 and meant prices are still on track to meet its prediction of a 2% fall over the year as a whole.

In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.8%, the S&P 500 down 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.6%.

US tech stocks suffered, with semiconductor companies especially hard hit, following a Reuters report pointing to potentially weak customer demand at TSMC.

In Asia on Monday, financial markets in Japan are closed for Respect for the Aged Day. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 1.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was down 0.6%.

Gold was quoted at USD1,928.93 an ounce early Monday, edging up from USD1,927.20 on Friday. Brent oil was trading at USD94.44 a barrel, higher than USD93.72.

In Monday's UK corporate calendar, there are half-year results from savings and retirement firm Phoenix Group Holdings.

By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News senior markets reporter

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