London pre-open: Stocks seen lower after uninspiring Asian session

London stocks are expected to open lower on Monday following a fairly uninspiring session in Asia.

The FTSE 100 is called to open 29 points lower than Friday’s close at 6,305.

There are no major UK data releases due but in the US, Markit’s manufacturing PMI is at 1445 GMT, while existing home sales are scheduled for release at 1500 GMT.

In Europe, all eyes will be on the release of flash PMIs for the manufacturing and services sectors.

“Today’s flash readings are expected to show that the manufacturing outlook is unchanged in November, while service sector growth is also expected to cool slightly,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

“The fact that the PMI data continues to point to only moderate growth in the eurozone further supports the need for more monetary stimulus from the ECB which is expected to come at the December meeting. ECB President Mario Draghi once again alluded to such a move on Friday, claiming that the central bank will do what it must to raise inflation as quickly as possible, if it decides that it is not on target to hit its target, which it clearly no longer is.”

AstraZeneca sells US rights to Entocort in $380m deal

AstraZeneca has sold the US rights to Crohn's disease medicine Entocort to Perrigo Company for $380m (£250.8m).

The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals company announced the deal on Monday, which will give Perrigo the rights to sell Entocort capsules and the authorised generic Entocort capsules marketed by Par Pharmaceuticals.

The deal completes its global divestment of the drug, after its July agreement with Tillotts Pharma for non-US rights to the drug.

Chief executive John O'Higgins said: "The period has been characterised by challenging trading conditions, particularly in our largest geographic region, North America. The board currently anticipates that full year adjusted operating profit will be towards the lower end of the range of market expectations.”

It has been a stellar quarter for the former Bank of Georgia, with the company reporting revenue growth of more than a third as it unveiled its new identity on Monday morning. The freshly-renamed BGEO Group saw third quarter profit lift to GEL80.9m (£22.4m).

Earnings per share rose to GEL 2.04 (£0.56), a 17.2% increase on the same period last year.

Much of the growth was attributed to BGEO's retail banking division, with revenue there reaching GEL 111.2m - up 47.7%.