London pre-open: Stocks seen flat ahead of Powell speech

London stocks were set for a steady open on Friday as investors eye a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium for clues on tapering.

The FTSE 100 was called to open unchanged at 7,125, with little in the way of corporate news or UK macro data to move markets as we head towards the Bank Holiday weekend.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Powell needs to set the scene, in terms of where the economy is now relative to December last year, when unemployment was at 6.7%. It is now at 5.4% and could fall further next week. It would be most surprising if the Fed didn’t start to start to tap the brakes on bond buying now, given the improvements over the last 9 months, however it certainly doesn’t mean the central bank is about to come to a full halt.

"The balance sheet will still be growing, just at a slower pace. Tapering is not tightening and is merely a reflection of a better economic outlook, where we will still see bumps along the way.

"Ultimately it’s all about the messaging, the Fed will taper, it’s simply a matter of timing and messaging."

Corporate news was scarce, but Primary Health Properties said it had bought the Townside Primary Care Centre and adjacent office building in Bury, Lancashire for £40m.

The centre is a purpose-built primary care hub which is fully let to NHS Property Services and a pharmacy. The office accommodation is also fully let with 90% of the income secured against Bury Council.