London pre-open: Stocks seen flat as investors pause for breath

London stocks looked set for an unchanged open on Thursday as investors pause for breath following strong gains in the previous session.

The FTSE 100 is seen starting flat at 6,030.

“Yesterday we saw European equity markets post some of their best sequences of gains so far this year, as financials and basic resource stocks ripped higher, led by yet another strong gain in crude oil prices, as the Doha commitment to an oil production freeze at January levels, found support from Iran,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

“The rebound in commodity and finance stocks saw the FTSE100 perform particularly well as it managed to post four consecutive daily gains for the first time this year, its best run of gains since last November.”

There are no major UK data releases due, so eyes will be on the US, where initial jobless claims and the Philadelphia Fed survey are at 1330 GMT, and leading indicators are at 1500 GMT.

BAE Systems full year in line with expectations

BAE Systems has posted full year results that are in line with City expectations and issued guidance that underlying earnings per share will rise between 5-10% in 2016.

For 2015, the defence and aerospace group saw underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation decline 1% to £1.68bn despite lifting sales almost 8% to £17.9bn.

Rexam was looking at a year of positive operations growth on Thursday, but fluctuations in currency and lower prices saw earnings head south in the 12 months to 31 December.

The FTSE 100 beverage can manufacturer saw sales increase by 2% over the year, to £3.93bn (from £3.83bn). Its underlying operating profit was down 3% to £404m, though the company's board said it remained flat at constant currency.

Underlying earnings per share were up 5% to 39.1p.

During the year, the company’s beverage can volumes were up 4%, or 2% excluding the acquisition of United Arab Can. While the company saw organic growth in line with, or ahead of all regional markets, it was partially offset by currency fluctuations and lower pricing.

It was now finalising a takeover offer from Ball Corporation, expected to be complete in the first half of this year.