London pre-open: Stocks seen higher as investors digest US presidential debate

London stocks were expected to open higher on Tuesday as investors digest the outcome of the first US presidential debate, with Hillary Clinton seen to have come out on top versus her rival Donald Trump.

The FTSE 100 was set to open 44 points higher than Monday’s close at 6,862.

CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson said: “Last night’s debate was the first opportunity to see the two candidates go head to head and judging by some of the market reaction Donald Trump would appear to have come off second best, which means that we could well see European markets open higher after yesterday’s sharp sell-off. Certainly his comments about not paying his taxes are unlikely to go down particularly well with either side, though it is equally true that with these debates we find out little that we didn’t already know about either candidate.”

On the data front, the CBI distributive trades survey is at 1100 BST.

In corporate news, currency tailwinds boosted Wolseley's full-year revenues as the plumbers merchant announced the result of the strategic review for its UK operations. Total revenues for 2016 jumped 8.5% to reach £14.43bn or by 4.2% in constant currency terms. Sales growth in like-for-like terms came in at 2.4%. That drove a 43% rise in profits before tax to £727m. The company´s full-year payout was raised 10.2% to 100p.

Legal & General said its retirement arm was on track to double its new business sales in the full year, with customer demand unaffected by the introduction of Solvency II regulation, Brexit uncertainty or lower interest rates. The FTSE 100 group said revenues from the division would be around £5.4bn, up from £2.9bn last year.

United Utilities said on Tuesday that it expects revenue for the first half of this year to be slightly lower than the same period last year, reflecting the accounting impact of its Water Plus business retail joint venture, partly offset by its allowed regulatory revenue changes. However, underlying operating profit for the first half is expected to be marginally higher.