London pre-open: Stocks seen higher on upbeat US cues; borrowing figures in focus

London stocks are set to open higher on Tuesday, taking their cue from a positive session in the US, where the Dow rose 123 points.

Stabilising commodity prices are also expected to help the tone.

London’s FTSE 100 is seen starting 39 points higher than Monday’s close at 6080.

“As far as data is concerned today the main focus this morning is likely to be on the latest UK borrowing numbers for November which is expected to see a rise to £11.1bn from £7.5bn in October,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

“November generally tends to be a weak month in any case with December usually a little stronger as the tax year deadline gets closer. Even allowing for that the Chancellor looks set to fall short of his borrowing target for this tax year unless tax receipts start to improve substantially, with the low oil price undermining VAT tax receipts at the pumps.”

In the US, the third release of third quarter GDP is at 1330 GMT, while existing home sales are at 1500 GMT.

BHP Billiton provides update on Samarco

BHP Billiton's Brazilian joint venture continued the clean-up from the catastrophic Bento Rodrigues dam disaster on Tuesday, amid ongoing legal action in the country's courts.

The FTSE 100 mining company updated the market on the dam breaches at Fundão and Santarém, which occurred on 5 November.

BHP Billiton and Vale each held a 50% stake in Samarco. Processing and mining operations at the site remained suspended.

The company said the legal proceedings, brought by the Brazilian federal and certain state governments, were seeking a BRL 20bn (£3.346bn) fund to cover clean-up and recovery.

"In connection with these proceedings, on 18 December 2015 the 12th Federal Court of Belo Horizonte handed down a decision on the interim injunctions requested", the company said in a statement.

Property investment company Hansteen has acquired a further 31.6m units in the Ashtenne Industrial Fund from Britel Fund Trustees Limited for £15.4m in cash, reflecting a price per unit of 0.4869p.

The price represents an effective 5% discount to Hansteen's carrying value for the fund as at 30 June 2015.

Morgan Jones, joint chief executive of Hansteen, said: "The acquisition of these units in AIF was an excellent opportunity to consolidate our holding in the fund, as we believe there is scope for further growth in both value and income.”