London pre-open: FTSE to open above 6,800

London-listed stocks look set for a modest rise on Friday morning, following a mixed performance by global indices overnight.

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around five points higher than Thursday's close of 6,799.62.

US equity markets ended broadly flat after erasing early losses, with energy stocks leading a late comeback following a rebound in oil prices.

Over in Asia, the picture was looking more varied. Data showed that in August, Chinese credit growth saw a further slowdown, as had been generally expected.

"Slower credit growth is welcome since it is necessary to put China's growth on a more sustainable long-run trajectory," Capital Economics explained.

Back in the UK, the latest poll ahead of the Scottish referendum showed that that 'no' campaign had a four-point lead.

CMC Markets market analyst Jasper Lawler said: "Businesses are clearly and understandably rattled by the prospect of a breakup of the UK so it will be of some relief that YouGov’s latest survey for The Times and Sun has switched back in favour of 'no' on 52% but it’s still very tight and doesn’t leave much room for complacency.

"There isn’t much precedent for a referendum of this scale so it’s hard to know how exactly markets will react. The initial reaction to a 'yes' vote would almost have to be FTSE 100 and British pound negative."

In company news, precious metals miner Fresnillo has proposed to spend $450m on buying out its joint venture partner to take full ownership of certain assets in the Herradura Corridor, one of Mexico's most prospective gold belts. The company already owns 56% of the Penmont joint venture, but has offered to purchase Newmont's 44% stake in the Herradura, Noche Buena and Soledad Dipolos mines, the Mega Centauro and Centauro Deep advanced exploration projects and a number of other exploration prospects.

Construction group Galliford Try unveiled another contract win on Friday after one of its infrastructure joint ventures was appointed a delivery partner by Southern Water for its AMP6 framework. The appointment is anticipated to be worth around £215m to the FTSE 250 group.

Pub chain JD Wetherspoon served up record full-year sales and and profits and said sales in the last six weeks were up 6%, although it warned of a risk to the pub industry from rising taxes.