London pre-open: Lower start seen on Footsie

Shares are expected to start the session lower following the release of mixed Chinese data overnight.

The Footsie is seen starting the day about four points below Friday's closing level of 6,378.04.

Chinese gross domestic product expanded at a 6.9% year-on-year clip in the third quarter, slight down from the 7% seen in the first two quarters. Nonetheless, that was well ahead of the median forecast from economists for growth of 6.7%.

"The Chinese data should really be seen as win win from an investor standpoint. The GDP reading was better than the market was expecting which ensures that the 2015 7% target is still achievable, while industrial production and fixed asset investment figures were so weak that further monetary and fiscal stimulus this year looks increasingly likely.

Of course people are going to question the validity of the GDP data given the turbulence in Chinese markets last quarter and the deceleration in its large manufacturing sector. This has been going on for some time though so we shouldn’t be entirely surprised that it didn’t fall short of the 7% target by more," said Craig Erlam, Senior Market Analyst at Oanda.

Shire reassures Lifitegrast will launch in 2016

ITV will purchase UTV Media’s television assets for £100m.The FTSE 100 listed broadcaster announced the deal on Monday, which is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. It said once the deal is approved, ITV will hold 13 of the 15 regional licences for the Channel 3 network.

Ahead of third-quarter results due on Friday, Shire has attempted to reassure the market that its lifitegrast dry-eye treatment remains on track for planned launch next year. After US regulators on Friday said they did not have enough data to grant the drug prescription status yet, chief executive Flemming Ornskov, said a major study has now been completed and top-line data are expected before the end of the year. "If the study is positive, we plan to refile our lifitegrast submission in the first quarter of 2016".

Ahead of third-quarter results due on Friday, Shire has attempted to reassure the market that its lifitegrast dry-eye treatment remains on track for planned launch next year. After US regulators on Friday said they did not have enough data to grant the drug prescription status yet, chief executive Flemming Ornskov, said a major study has now been completed and top-line data are expected before the end of the year. "If the study is positive, we plan to refile our liftegrast submission in the first quarter of 2016".