London pre-open: Stocks seen a little lower as caution creeps in ahead of Fed announcement

London stocks are expected to open a little lower on Tuesday as investors adopt a cautious stance ahead of the Federal Reserve policy announcement.

The FTSE 100 index is seen opening down 12 points at 6405.

On the macroeconomic front, investors will eye the first release of third-quarter UK GDP at 0930 GMT.

In the US, durable goods orders are at 1230 GMT, while S&P Case/Shiller home prices are at 1300 GMT and consumer confidence is at 1400 GMT.

“We’ve seen some nice efforts from the BoE and the ECB at reigniting equity markets over the last few days and the bulls would certainly have been taking them higher if it weren’t for the Fed on Wednesday. Until then, expect markets to tread water,” said Jonathan Sudaria, a night dealer at London Capital Group.

The Fed policy announcement is due on Wednesday.

BP posts sharp drop in third-quarter replacement cost profit

BP has reported a sharp fall in third quarter replacement cost profit to $1.819bn from $3.03bn in 2014 as the company revealed the impact of plunging oil prices over the last year.

Third-quarter net inflows at wealth manager St James's Place rose 17% to a record £1.48bn, taking funds under management to £54.5bn.

Chief executive David Bellamy said: “"Despite the volatility across global stock markets during the third quarter of 2015, our business sustained strong growth momentum. New investments were 20% higher at a record £2.32 billion which, together with the continued high retention of clients and their investments, resulted in record net inflows.”