London pre-open: Stocks seen lower after Monday's gains

Stocks in London were set for a weaker open on Tuesday following gains in the previous session, with oil prices still in focus after Russian President Vladimir Putin told an energy congress in Turkey that the nation was ready to join OPEC in a proposed curb on production.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 20 points lower than Monday’s close at 7,077.

Oanda’s Craig Erlam said: “The pound appeared to find some stability on Monday following the flash crash on Friday and yet it continues to drift lower. Once again this morning it’s down by close to half a percent and approaching 1.23 against the dollar.

“While we may see it find support soon, there appears to be little faith in sterling right now due to the huge uncertainties around Brexit and therefore further turbulence likely lies ahead for the pound.”

There are no major UK data releases due.

In corporate news, profits fell 20% in the first half of the year for specialist-fit clothing retailer N Brown, but this was ahead of company-compiled consensus forecasts and followed a recovery in sales in the second quarter.

The interim dividend was held flat as the company revealed the autumn-winter season has started in line with its plans as it adopts a "more assertive stance" on prices and an agile approach in order to cope with a backdrop which "remains volatile".

Fashion retailer Ted Baker reported a jump in interim profit as revenue grew and the company lifted its dividend following a good performance across all channels, despite challenging trading conditions.

In the 28 weeks ended 13 August, pre-tax profit rose to £21.5m from £17.8m on revenue of £259.5m, up 14.4% from the same period a year ago.

Residential property investment and management company Grainger provided an update on trading for the year to 30 September on Tuesday, reporting “good rental growth” and “strong sales performance” as a result of cost reductions.

The FTSE 250 firm said it expects recurring profit for the year to be above £50m, at the higher end of management expectations, as well as high single digit year-on-year growth in NNNAV for the full year.

Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone said trading had improved in the first few weeks of the financial year in comparison to the sharp fall it experienced after the Brexit vote, while the company announced that its chief executive was stepping down after five years.

In a trading update for the first five weeks of the new financial year, the company said trading was ahead of the previous year as reservations have been stronger and the cancellation rate has returned to normal levels.