London pre-open: Stocks seen just a tough higher

London stocks are set to open just a touch higher on Friday despite positive sessions in the US and Asia as the dollar continues to slide in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s dovish outlook on interest rates this week.

London’s FTSE 100 is seen starting six points lower than Thursday’s close at 6,195.

“With all the kerfuffle surrounding a Brexit, sterling has been the main playmaker over the last few weeks losing ground against most of its crosses and cable seeing a low of $1.385 just over two weeks ago,” said Rocky Muddar, a dealer at London Capital Group.

“Going under the radar has been the US dollar. The Dollar Index is currently down over 5.9% from December and Wednesday’s FOMC has not helped the cause.”

The economic calendar is pretty light, but University of Michigan consumer sentiment is due at 1400 GMT.

Berkeley sees full year at top end of expectations

FTSE 100-listed house builder Berkeley Group said it expects current year results will be at the top end of expectations, after absorbing approximately £25m.

Berkeley added it remains on course to deliver £2bn of pre-tax profit in aggregate over the three years culminating in 2017/18.

"Reservations are approximately 4% lower than in 2014/15 due to a change in mix of product and the strength of the forward sales secured in recent years," Berkeley said.

"In spite of global macro uncertainty, including the impending UK European Referendum, underlying demand has remained strong. Transaction levels at the upper end of the housing market have been affected by the significant increase in transaction taxes over the last 18 months which will have consequential effects on both social mobility and the supply of new homes."

BT Group announced the appointment of Simon Lowth as group finance director on Friday, also assigning him as executive board director.

Lowth was being hired to replace the FTSE 100 firm's current finance director, Tony Chanmugam, following a handover period. Chanmugan was moving within BT to focus on the integration of acquisition EE.

The company said Lowth was one of the UK's most respected CFOs, having held the position at BG Group, AstraZeneca and ScottishPower in the last 11 years. He was due to join the company on 4 July.