London pre-open: Stocks seen higher on upbeat US cues; Autumn Statement eyed

Stocks in London were set for a higher, taking their cue from an upbeat session on Wall Street, where the Dow closed above 19,000 for the first time ever, as investors eyed the Autumn Statement.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 34 points higher than Tuesday’s close at 6,853.

CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson said: “Today’s Autumn Statement is more likely to be a case of tinkering around the edges rather than outlining a new budget and fiscal plan, with some announcements already well flagged beforehand. The current economic outlook, with another revision to Q3 GDP due out at the end of this week has in all likelihood removed the need for a root and branch approach to the UK economy. In summary it’s likely to be a ‘Tinkerman’ budget.

“A more comprehensive overview is likely to come in the March budget when we are likely to find out if Article 50 is likely to be triggered as is expected at the end of Q1.”

The Autumn Statement is at 1230 GMT.

In corporate news, underlying interim pre-tax profits at United Utilities fell £16m to £189m, as a £4m increase in underlying operating profit was more than offset by a £19m increase in underlying net finance expense.

United said the increase in underlying net finance expense was mainly due to the impact of higher RPI inflation on its index-linked debt. Reported pre-tax profit fell £57m to £158m.

Underlying earnings per share fell to 22p from 23.9p. Basic EPS rose to 29.7p from 25.2p.

"Overall, we are encouraged by our progress in the early part of this regulatory period. We have a robust financial position and are confident that we can deliver our targets for both customers and shareholders," the company said.

Property investor Hammerson has agreed to buy four outlet centres in Europe worth a combined €587m (£502m), in order to expand in the territory.

The company, along with partners APG, Meyer Bergman and Value Retail in their joint venture VIA Outlets, have agreed to buy the outlets, which are close to major cities in Germany, Portugal, Spain and Poland.

As it closes in on the £6.6bn deal that will make it the UK's biggest software company, Micro Focus reported merging company Hewlett Packard Enterprise's revenues fell but its margins improved.

HPE saw revenues slide 6% in the fourth quarter, which resulted in a 12% decline to $3.2bn in the year to end-October, while margins widened to 23.4%.