London pre-open: Stocks seen lower at start of quiet week

London stocks are set to open lower following losses in the US on Friday and as investors continue to keep an eye on weak oil prices.

London’s FTSE 100 is seen starting 31 points lower than Friday’s close at 6021.

“With December’s major releases and meetings out the way volumes will taper off as 2015 draws to a close,” said Farbod Mimeh, a dealer at London Capital Group.

“Opportunists will still have their chance for a last minute bargain, ready for any volatility that often accompanies low volume trading sessions.”

The economic calendar is looking pretty light, but CBI distributive trades data for December is due at 1100 GMT.

Hammerson sells Newcastle mall

Hammerson has agreed to sell Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s Monument Mall to the Standard Life Investments UK Property Fund for £75m.

It’s one of the two sales the FTSE 100 company announced on Monday, with the disposal of a small land interest in Kingston-upon-Thames to St George for £12m.

It had acquired the mall in 2011 for £28m and reconfigured it in 2013 to transform it into a high-quality shopping and dining destination, securing a number of high-end retail and leisure brands.

Wood Group has acquired Kelchner Inc, a privately-owned US-based provider of construction and energy field services.

Kelchner will operate within the onshore business of Wood Group PSN Americas, providing construction capabilities primarily to the midstream and upstream oil and gas sector in the Marcellus and Utica shale basins, and broader industrial sectors.

FTSE 100-listed Randgold Resources announced on Monday it had pulled out of its partnership with AngloGold Ashanti to redevelop the Obuasi Mine in Ghana.

The two firms previously announced their intentions to form a joint venture on 16 September 2015.

At the time, Randgold had described the partnership as "groundbreaking", saying it would lead to Obuasi becoming a viable, long-term mining business with "an attractive cost structure and returns".

However, Monday's announcement saw Randgold describing the plan as unsatisfactory.

"After undertaking a due diligence exercise into the mine and the redevelopment opportunity the mine affords, and following the work undertaken on the revised development plan, Randgold has determined that the development plan will not satisfy Randgold's internal investment requirements", the firm said in a statement.