London pre-open: FTSE to track gains in the US

Blue chips are expected to begin the day on a positive note on Thursday, lifted by an upbeat performance in the US overnight and following comments from the Bank of England (BoE) Governor about the risk of Scottish independence on bank stability.

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around 20 points higher than yesterday's close of 6,830.11.

"Scottish independence took another twist yesterday after Mark Carney BoE governor [on Wednesday] night warned that an independent Scotland using Sterling without having the BoE as a lender of last resort for its large financial sector would need large reserves to maintain bank stability, perhaps one year’s gross domestic product at around £130bn," said Jasper Lawler, a market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

"The comments were supportive of the 'No' campaign but cable is languishing at a 10-month low because the risk remains that the Scottish electorate are more focused on nationalism than monetary concerns."

The morning after the comments, Royal Bank of Scotland confirmed plans to move to England if Scotland votes for independence next week. RBS said it believed it would be necessary to re-domicile the bank's holding company and its primary operating unit RBS Plc as part of contingency planning in the event of a 'yes' vote on September 18.

In other company news, UK supermarket chain Wm Morrison lifted its interim dividend by 5% but reported a 51% drop in underlying profits in its first half and said that like-for-like sales momentum is "yet to improve". "Conditions are tough, and the industry is going through unprecedented change, said chairman Ian Gibson. He said that interim results reflect the "reset" of the business announced in March and the company is "now well underway with building the foundations for a better future".

Galliford Try's building business has scored a triple contract win worth more than £100m, which it said "demonstrate the strength of our offering across a variety of sectors and provide further impetus to our stated strategy to continue to grow our construction activities".

FTSE 100 retailer Next confirmed total sales growth of 10.3% in the first-half, which had been recently flagged in a pre-close statement. Retail stores and its online business both delivered significant growth to lift profit before tax 19.3%.

Also on Thursday's agenda is the release of both the consumer price index (CPI) for both France and Germany.

"The expectation is for no change in the four-year low of an 0.8% year-on-year increase in prices for Germany and while prices in France are expected to tick higher in August but annually it is the lowest increase since 2009," Lawler said.