(Alliance News) - London's FTSE 100 is called to open lower at the start of the week, following underwhelming trade on Wall Street, and a largely tepid performance from Asian equities on Monday.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 13.3 points lower, 0.2%, at 8.224.42 on Monday. The index of London large-caps closed down 34.74 points, 0.4%, at 8,237.72 on Friday. It added 1.1% last week.

In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged marginally higher, though both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite lost 0.2%.

In Tokyo on Monday, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.5%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was 0.9% lower. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.7%.

A tough end to the week for US tech shares has led to a nervy open in Asia and weak equity futures in Europe.

"Elsewhere, appetite is limited. The Stoxx 600 in Europe was toppish last week as the French political uncertainties occupied the headlines. The EURUSD sold off to 1.0670 on Friday and is trading a touch below 1.07 at the start of the week. Le Pen's National Rally increased its lead in the polls for the upcoming legislative elections to 36%, while Emmanuel Macron's centrists stand near 20% support. French risks will likely remain a shadow over the single currency at least until the election," Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya commented.

In the UK, it is the final full week of campaigning before the July 4 general election. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will warn that it would take decades to recover from the "disaster" of a Labour government as he seeks to rally Tories to fight for every vote in the closing stages of the campaign.

The PM will tell activists they have just 10 days to "take our message to every corner of the UK" before polls open a week on Thursday.

With the Conservatives still around 20 points behind in the polls and after a bruising few days dominated by allegations about alleged insider betting, Sunak will urge Tories not to "surrender" to Keir Starmer's party.

The pound was quoted at USD1.2647 early Monday, rising from USD1.2628 at the time of the London equities close on Friday. The euro stood at USD1.0697, rising from USD1.0685. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY159.79, up from JPY159.52.

On the yen, Commerzbank analyst Ulrich Leuchtmann commented: "USD-JPY is scraping the 160.00 mark this morning, and accordingly the topic of "intervention" is back on the agenda. At the end of April, the exchange rate briefly rose above this level before the Bank of Japan took action on behalf of the Ministry of Finance. This level therefore appears to be the MOF's current pain threshold."

A barrel of Brent oil was quoted at USD84.34, down from USD85.73. Gold was quoted at USD2,324.94 an ounce, slipping from USD2,326.10.

Monday's economic calendar has German Ifo business climate data at 0900 BST.

By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor

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