London pre-open: Stocks seen down despite Wall St gains

London stocks were set to fall at the open on Tuesday despite a solid session on Wall Street.

The FTSE 100 was called to open down around 30 points.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said: "We will have a glance on the European and Canadian inflation numbers today, FOMC minutes tomorrow and flash manufacturing numbers for August on Thursday.

"I guess that the US weekly jobless claims will also be watched more seriously than usual, but all in all there should be nothing major to change the week’s focus until the Powell speaks."

In corporate news, mining tech group Weir said it has been awarded a £53m contract on the Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan, a greenfield development part-owned by Barrick Gold Corporation.

During the first phase of the project, Weir will provide fine grinding, separation and tailings solutions, including its large-format high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGRs). Half of the revenue (£26m) will be recognised in the third quarter, with the remaining orders booked for later in 2024 and 2025.

GSK said it has received breakthrough therapy designation from the US FDA for GSK5764227 - an investigational antibody-drug conjugate for the treatment of relapsed or refractory extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC).

The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said the designation was based on promising early clinical evidence, and aimed to expedite the development and review of the drug, which could potentially offer a significant improvement over existing therapies. It said patients with ES-SCLC who experience disease progression after chemotherapy typically had poor outcomes and limited treatment options.