London pre-open: Stocks seen higher after dovish Yellen comments

London stocks were poised for a firmer open on Wednesday, taking their cue from a positive session on Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen maintained a dovish stance in a speech the previous day.

The FTSE 100 is seen opening 50 points higher than Tuesday’s close at 6,156.

“For all last week’s hawkish rhetoric from several Fed policymakers, last night’s comments from Fed chair Janet Yellen were anything but, as she reiterated the need for the Federal Reserve to ‘proceed cautiously’ on lifting interest rates,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

“All the recent talk about the potential for a rate rise in April appears to have been put to bed last night as Yellen indicated concern about the prospect of undershooting the central banks inflation target, as well as concern that further downward pressure on prices could well come from the difficulties being experienced by Chinese authorities in managing their economic slowdown.”

There are no major UK data due but in the US, the ADP employment report at 1315 GMT will be eyed ahead of Friday’s nonfarm payrolls.

McCormick ups offer for Premier Foods

US spice giant McCormick has upped its offer for Premier Foods from 60p to 65p per share, valuing the Mr Kipling to Oxo Cubes group at £1.5bn.

McCormick called on the Premier board, which has rejected two lower offers, to now "engage fully" and agree a cash recommended offer.

Morgan Advanced Materials announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer on Wednesday, appointing Peter Turner to the role.

The FTSE 250 company said the 45-year-old had a strong track record of driving improved business performance, having been finance director at Smiths Group from 2010 to 2015.

Prior to that, he held similar roles at Venture Production and BOC Group, and started his career as an auditor at Price Waterhouse.