(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Wednesday, despite data from Zoopla that UK house sales this year are 'on track to be lowest since 2012'.

Meanwhile, stocks in New York closed higher on Tuesday as figures showing a drop in consumer confidence and a softer labour market boosted hopes that interest rates may have peaked.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open up 27.81 points, 0.4%, at 7492.8 on Wednesday. The index of London large-caps closed up 126.41 points, or 1.7% at 7,464.99 on Tuesday.

The number of home sales taking place across the UK this year is on track to be around a fifth, 21%, lower than in 2022, according to a property website.

About one million sales could be completed in 2023, which would be the lowest total since 2012 and equate to the average household moving just once every 23 years, Zoopla said.

The website made its predictions based on house sales in the first half of this year.

With mortgage costs having increased sharply, the number of house sales with a mortgage is expected to plunge by nearly a third, 28%, this year, compared with 2022.

The Bank of England will release the latest data on mortgage approvals and net lending for July on Wednesday morning.

In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended higher, further fuelled by weak US data which is driving up hopes that interest rates have peaked. The Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.9%, the S&P 500 up 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.7%.

Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed there were 8.827 million job vacancies in July, down from 9.165 million in June, and below a FXStreet-cited consensus of 9.465 million.

It is the smallest number of openings since March 2021.

The data starts a week of updates on the jobs market with ADP private payrolls figures on Wednesday, weekly jobless claims data on Thursday and non-farm payrolls on Friday.

In Asia on Wednesday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up marginally, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.5%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was up 1.2%.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.2626 early Wednesday, higher than USD1.2616 at the London equities close on Tuesday. The euro traded at USD1.0864 early Wednesday, higher than USD1.0845 late Tuesday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JP146.15, higher versus JPY146.04.

Gold was quoted at USD1,936.32 an ounce early Wednesday, slightly higher than USD1,936.07 on Tuesday. Brent oil was trading at USD85.15 a barrel early Wednesday, higher than USD84.24 late Tuesday.

In Wednesday's UK corporate calendar, there are full-year results from arts and crafts, stationery, and books retailer TheWorks.co.uk.

The economic calendar there is an EU economic sentiment indicator at 1000 BST.

By Sophie Rose, Alliance News reporter

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