London pre-open: Slightly higher start expected

Stocks were expected to start the morning higher, tracking strong gains on Wall Street in the wake of the latest set of Federal Reserve meeting minutes which revealed deep divisions among the US central bank's rate-setters.

The FTSE 100 was being called to start the day up by eight points or 0.13% from Wednesday's closing level of

"The minutes of the March 16 FOMC meeting reveal that the Committee is now deeply, and almost evenly divided. The split reaches from the risks to the economic outlook and the interpretation of inflation expectations to the appropriate policy outlook. This great divide may be the reason why Chair Yellen felt in late March that she has to go in the offense and deliver a surprisingly dovish speech," Dr.Harm Bandholz, chief US economist at Unicredit Research said in a research note sent to clients.

To take note of, overnight the US dollar fell back to a one-and-a-half-year low versus the Japanese yen.

As of 08:31 BST it was trading 0.88% lower at 108.83, while the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Composite Index finished the session down by 0.54% to 3,034.052.

Also overnight, the Dutch voted in a referendum to reject a mooted EU partnership deal with Ukraine which would see the removal of trade restrictions with the east European country, with a full 61.1% of those who cast their ballots saying they were against the initiative.

"Under the vote rules means [the referendum results mean] it will be very difficult for Dutch leaders and by implication, EU leaders to ignore it.

"That doesn’t mean they won’t try as the EU has form in this area," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

"As it is the outcome of yesterday’s vote is likely to give a significant boost to the “Brexit” campaign here in the UK, and in that context the EU’s response to it will need to be very carefully managed lest more fire is poured on the flames of populism, which is rippling out through Europe."

Shire reassures shareholders

Drug maker Shire has reassured investors that it is confident, even with new rules from the US Treasury to block 'tax inversion' deals, that its takeover of US-based Baxalta will proceed as planned. “The combination of Shire and Baxalta is based on a strong strategic rationale to create the leading global biotechnology company focused on rare diseases,” Shire said in a statement, adding that it expects to complete its proposed combination by mid-2016.

Home furnishings retailer Dunelm reported total revenue for the third quarter increasing by 5.9%, with like-for-like growth, up 1.1%. Gross margin for the quarter was 90 basis points higher than the previous comparative period, with the board putting this down to improved stock management and the reduced cost of end of season product clearance.

Fourth quarter sales at Marks & Spencer were up 1.9% in the fourth quarter as the food business outperformed the market but was again held back by weak clothing sales. New chief executive Steve Rowe said: "Although the sales decline in Clothing and Home was lower than last quarter, our performance remains unsatisfactory and there is still more we need to do."