London pre-open: Stocks seen higher; central bank meetings in focus

Stocks in London were expected to open higher, rebounding from losses at the end of last week as investors turned their attention to upcoming central bank meetings.

The FTSE 100 was set to open 52 points higher than Friday’s close at 6,762.

On the data front, there are no major UK releases due but in the US, the NAHB housing market index is at 1500 BST.

CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson said: “Last week saw European equity markets decline for the second week in succession, as renewed concerns about the banking system saw stocks in Europe post their worst decline since the summer “Brexit” vote in June.

“Despite last week’s sell-off, this week is set to be dominated by central bank meetings once again, this time with key interest rate decisions from the Bank of Japan and US Federal Reserve, with a heightened expectation of some form of action from the Japanese central bank later this week.”

The FOMC and Bank of Japan announcements are on Wednesday.

In corporate news, outsourcer Mitie Group warned that full year profits would be materially lower than expected due to a drop-off in higher margin contracts in the first-half and the cost of new efficiency programmes.

The FTSE 250 group said that while it was seeing good levels of trading in its core facilities management business, the economic uncertainty has seen clients defer investment decisions.

Workspace has been granted planning permission for the redevelopment of Stratford Office Village, which was valued at £14m in March.

The company has secured mixed use planning consent to replace the existing buildings with a redevelopment comprising 101 residential units, including a mix of townhouses, private apartments and 25% affordable housing, and 13,000 sq. ft. of new commercial space.

FTSE 250 Property developer Segro sold its Heston and Airlinks industrial estate near Heathrow for £79.5m to Capital Industrial.

In August, chief executive Phil Redding said the disposal reflected its “desire to focus our portfolio on more modern and less management-intensive assets, as well as the continuing, strong investor demand for multi-let warehouse assets in London”.

HICL Infrastructure announced a proposal on Monday to raise £76m through an issue of ordinary shares.

The firm said the net proceeds of the issue will be used for net funding requirements, which currently stands at £76m and is due to increase to £148m once the company’s conditional investment in the A63 motorway project is completed in the first quarter of 2017.