LONDON: Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening a touch lower on Friday, giving away most of the previous session's gains on renewed concerns about Greece's future after the country's international creditors demanded more steps from Athens before they release a rescue package.
Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the Euro-group, said there would be "no disbursement before implementation" of austerity measures, and the International Monetary Fund demanded assurances Greece would stick to the agreed policies whatever the outcome of looming elections.
Greece has applied for aid from the European Union, the IMF and the European Central Bank to avert a disorderly default that has the potential to rock equity markets by casting doubts on the situation of other debt laden countries in the European periphery, such as Portugal, Italy and Spain.
The UK blue chip index is expected to open 12-13 points lower or as much as 0.2 percent after gaining 19.54 points on Thursday, when it closed at 5,895.47 after coming off highs in late trade.
The index has been stuck in a narrow range of between 5,850.49 and 5,916.31 this week after hitting a six-month closing high of 5,901.07 last Friday.
"Although the FTSE has been grinding higher, its recent straddling of the August top at 5913.50 could be a sign that buyers are backing away from buying strength and that a significant correction may be necessary to attract fresh capital," James A. Hyerczyk, analyst at Autochartist, said.
Of interest to oil stocks, which rose 0.8 percent on Thursday after strong results from BG Group, Brent crude slipped from a six-month high on Friday as data from China showed crumbling imports for January, stoking fears of a slowdown in demand from the world's second largest oil consumer.
Banks will also be in focus as Barclays unveils its 2011 results. The lender is expected to report a sharp drop in its key investment banking income, adding to pressure on the UK bank and its boss, Bob Diamond, to show restraint on pay.
On the macro front, the Office for National Statistics releases British factory gate inflation data for January at 0930 GMT. Producer output price inflation is expected to have slowed to 3.7 percent last month from 4.8 percent in December and 5.4 percent in November.
In the United States, the Commerce Department releases December International Trade data at 1330 GMT. Economists in a Reuters poll expect a trade deficit of $48.0 billion in December versus a deficit of $47.75 billion in November.
Preliminary figures from the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers will be released at 1455. February's preliminary consumer sentiment index is expected to come in at 74.5 compared with a 75 reading in the final January report.
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