(Alliance News) - Stocks in London were set to open higher on Tuesday as markets began to settle following an aborted uprising against President Vladimir Putin in Russia over the weekend.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 25.52 points, or 0.3%, at 7,479.10 on Tuesday. The FTSE 100 index closed down 8.29 points, or 0.1%, at 7,453.58 on Monday.

"The prospect that we might see supply disruptions if the geopolitical situation deteriorates further may have prompted some precautionary buying. While the crisis appears to have passed quickly, the fact that it happened at all has been a bit of a wakeup call and raised some concerns about future long term political stability inside Russia," commented Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

"One other reason for the so far muted reaction to recent events is that we are coming to the end of the month as well as the first half of the year, with investors indulging in portfolio tweaking rather than any significant shift in asset allocation."

In Tokyo on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 index was down 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1.6%.

China is on course to achieve its 5% target for economic growth in 2023 set by Beijing earlier this year, Premier Li Qiang said Tuesday.

"For the whole year, we are expected to achieve the target of about five percent economic growth set at the beginning of this year," Li said as he opened a meeting of global political and business leaders in northern China.

China is grappling with a slowing post-Covid recovery, with a number of lacklustre indicators in recent weeks signalling the rebound is running out of steam.

Beijing's central bank last week cut two key interest rates in a bid to counter the slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

Last week, ratings agency Fitch Ratings raised China's 2023 economic growth forecast to 5.6% from 5.2% after a swifter-than-expected reopening rebound in the first quarter of 2023.

The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was up 0.6% near the close.

The dollar was weaker against other major currencies on Monday morning.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.2739 early Tuesday, higher than USD1.2719 at the London equities close on Monday.

The euro traded at USD1.0927 early Tuesday, higher than USD1.0913 late Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY143.46, lower versus JPY143.52.

Annual shop price inflation in the UK ebbed to 8.4% in June, from 9.0% in May, according to the latest British Retail Consortium-NielsenIQ tracker. June's reading was below the three-month average inflation rate of 8.7%.

Food inflation, recently a major driver of price pressure for the UK consumer, abated to 14.6%, from 15.4%.

Wall Street ended lower on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat, the S&P 500 down 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.2%.

Gold was quoted at USD1,928.92 an ounce early Tuesday in London, higher than USD1,926.27 on Monday. Brent oil was trading at USD74.84 a barrel early Tuesday, higher than USD74.12.

In Tuesday's corporate calendar in London, there are full-year results from Wise, Telecom Plus, CML Microsystems, and Accsys Technologies, as well as trading statementd from PZ Cussons and Petrofac.

The global economic calendar has the US consumer confidence survey at 1500 BST.

By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter

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