Land Securities filling Paddington property, Lookers to sell parts division

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 16.8 points lower on Wednesday, after closing 0.62% higher at 6,851.30 on Tuesday.

Stocks to watch

Land Securities has signed up three new long-term tenants for its 20 Eastbourne Terrace office building next to London's Paddington underground station. With US software company Citrix taking two floors and another let to medical device manufacturer LivaNova, the building is now 90% let with only two floors still available.

Lookers announced on Wednesday that it has entered into a conditional agreement to sell its parts business to Alliance Automotive, on a debt free and cash free basis, for a consideration of £120m payable in cash on completion. The FTSE 250 firm’s parts division is a distributor of automotive parts which includes brands such as BTN Turbo, FPS and Apec Braking. Alliance Automotive is part of Alliance Automotive Group, a major European distributor of automotive and commercial vehicle parts to the automotive aftermarket. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of October.

Peppa Pig owner Entertainment One said on Wednesday that it has rejected a takeover offer of 236p per share, which was reported to have been made by broadcaster ITV. “The board of eOne has reviewed the proposal and has unanimously rejected it on the basis that it fundamentally undervalues the company and its prospects,” it said.

Newspaper round-up

The recent terrorist attacks in Europe together with the zika virus and Brexit are causing a sharp drop-off in demand from North Americans for Mediterranean cruises, a Miami-based operator has warned. Norwegian Cruise Lines blamed “successive geopolitical events” for cutting its profit forecast and abandoning its financial targets for 2017. - The Times

The Bank of England’s post-Brexit economic recovery plan got off to a stumbling start when it was unable to buy as many government bonds as it needed from major City investors. Threadneedle Street will spell out on Wednesday how it plans to get reluctant investors to part with government bonds – also known as gilts – in order to provide additional stimulus to the economy under its new £60bn quantitative easing (QE) programme. - Guardian

Land prices for UK residential development are falling after Brexit uncertainty prompted housebuilders to take a more cautious approach to land buying. The largest drop came in London, where the price of prime central land fell 6.9 per cent in the three months to June , bringing the drop over 12 months to 9.4 per cent, according to the Knight Frank residential development land index. - Financial Times

US close

US stocks finished higher on Tuesday following a mixed batch of economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.2% the S&P 500 gained 0.04% and the Nasdaq grew 0.24%

In contrast, oil prices reversed earlier gains with West Texas Intermediate crude down 0.56% to $42.78 per barrel and Brent down 0.88% to $44.99 per barrel.

US wholesale inventories rose a revised 0.3% in June, up from the initial estimate for no change, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. May was also revised to a 0.2% gain from the previous estimate for a 0.1% gain.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said US productivity 0.5% fell in the second quarter, well below forecasts for a 0.4% increase and following a 0.6% drop the previous quarter.

Productivity, which measures how much an employee produces in an hour of work, has been a major issue for the US economy over the past few years.

The data follows the non-farm payrolls report, which came in much better than expected on Friday with 255,000 jobs added to the economy in July, compared to forecasts of 185,000.

Separately, the National Federation of Independent Business index on US small business optimism rose slightly to 94.6 in July from 94.5 in June, beating expectations for an unchanged reading.