London pre-open: Stocks seen higher as pound recovers

London stocks were seen opening higher on Friday, recouping some of the losses from earlier this week as the pound recovers somewhat.

The FTSE 100 was expected to open 49 points higher than Thursday’s close at 5,999.

CMC Markets’ Jasper Lawler said: “The atmosphere in the lead up to the referendum is reaching fever pitch. Thursday’s Brexit news started with the unusually stark letter from Bank of England governor Mark Carney to an MP, defending his right to discuss the topic during Purdah.

“It moved to the absurd ‘boat battle of the Thames’ between Nigel Farage, as part of a flotilla of fishing boats and Bob Geldof on a boat of Remain campaigners. It then ended with the horrific murder of MP Jo Cox, where the killer is reported to have said ‘Britain First’ before shooting.”

There are no major UK data releases due, but in the US, housing starts and building permits are at 1330 BST.

HSBC to pay $1.57bn to settle class action

HSBC said it will pay $1.57bn to end a class action lawsuit over its 2003 purchase of Household International that could have exposed it to $3.6bn in payouts.

The bank said it would take a pre-tax charge of around $585m in the second quarter.

HSBC merged Household International with another unit to create HSBC Finance. The business lent money to people with poor credit histories.

Retail giant Tesco confirmed the sale of its Dobbies Garden Centres chain on Monday, to an investor group led by Midlothian Capital Partners and Hattington Capital.

The FTSE 100 firm said the sale represents the entire share capital of Dobbies, with Tesco receiving £217m in cash to be used for general corporate purposes.

Tesco purchased Dobbies Garden Centres in 2007, and has grown it to become the UK’s second-largest specialist garden centre operator with 35 sites across Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.