London pre-open: Equities track oil futures lower

The Footsie was being called to start slightly lower despite overnight gains on Wall Street, as stocks continued to track movements in the oil price.

Britain's top flight index was seen starting the day down by one point from Wednesday's closing level of 6,147.06.

Asian bourses were largely higher overnight, with the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Composite Index up by 0.35% to 2,859.758

As of 07:45 GMT front month Brent crude futures were slipping 0.55% to $36.73 per barrel on the ICE.

Crude oil futures rose in the previous session despite US Department of Energy statistics which revealed a surge in American oil stockpiles.

Most market commentary ascribed those gains to a dip in gasoline inventories.

Howevver, according to Paul Horsnell, head of commodities research at Standard Chartered, a large part of the inventory surplus which the IEA has estimated has yet to actually appear in physical storage.

Also overnight, the latest Fed Beige book pointed to a "considerably improved" tone in the pace of economic activity Stateside so far in the current quarter, according to Barclays.

The latest readings on the Halifax house price index and Markit service sector purchasing managers index are set to be published at 08:30 and 09:30 each, respectively.

Solid results at CRH and Schroders

CRH saw full-year sales rise by 25% last year to €23.64bn, which drove a 33% increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation to €2.2bn. The latter was ahead of the company's own guidance provided in November. The building supplies manufacturer and DIY store operator kept its full-year dividend payout unchanged at 62.5 cents.

Schroders reported some strong profit rises in the 2015 calendar year on Thursday, with profit before tax and exception items up 8% to £609.7m, from £565.2m. Profit before tax jumped 14% to £589m. The FTSE 100 asset management firm had a total of £315bn assets under management on 31 December, up from £300bn a year earlier. Its net inflows dropped during the year, however, to £13bn from £24.8bn. Schroders' board recommended a final dividend of 58p, taking the year's total dividend to 87p, a 12% increase.

BHP Billiton's part-owned Brazilian mining venture Samarco has agreed a $6-8bn program with the local authorities to fund repairs and compensate victims after the bursting of a tailings dam last November.Samarco, in which BHP and Vale each own a 50% stake, will need to fund a newly set up foundation that will fund and clean-up costs and damages over a 15-year term, beginning with $1.1bn of payment over this and the next two years.