London pre-open: Stocks seen lower on weak Asian cues, ahead of jobs data

London stocks were set for a weaker open on Tuesday, taking their cue from a downbeat session in Asia as investors eye a slew of key UK jobs data.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 26 points lower at 6,944.

The downbeat mood came as the IMF cut its global growth forecast for 2019 to the slowest level in three years and as Chinese data showed economic growth of 6.6% for 2018, marking the slowest rate of expansion in almost thirty years.

On home turf, investors will be still be digesting Prime Minister Theresa May's 'Plan B', which essentially is little more than her pushing her 'Plan A'.

"Mrs May said she would be more flexible and open, and she would make commitments to Northern Ireland that the Commons could accept," said CMC Markets analyst David Madden. "The pound was lifted by her comments, but the situation hasn’t really unchanged."

MPs are due to vote on a modified version of May's deal on 29 January.

On the data front, average earnings, the ILO unemployment rate and the claimant count are all due at 0930 GMT, along with public sector net borrowing figures.

In corporate news, global mining giant BHP said its second quarter iron ore production fell 6% percent and reported a $600m negative impact due to production disruptions at copper and iron ore operations.

Unplanned production outages at Olympic Dam, Spence and Western Australia Iron Ore would impact productivity, BHP said, adding it would revise guidance at its results on February 19.

The flexible office sector is about to get even more crowded, as Land Securities has launched a new business, called Myo, to compete with the likes of US-based WeWork, and domestic players IWG and Workspace.

Operating as a standalone brand, Myo will in April begin offering flexible leases of customisable office space, with the first location being the group's 36,000 square feet building at 123 Victoria Street, London.

EasyJet updated the market on its trading for the quarter ended 31 December on Tuesday, saying it delivered a "good performance", with robust customer demand driving passenger and ancillary revenue, which was in line with expectations.

The low-cost airline said total revenue in the first quarter increased by 13.7% to £1.296bn, with passenger revenue rising by 12.2% to £1.025bn and ancillary revenue improving 19.9% to £271m. Positive revenue performance was offset, as the board expected, by the impact from the prior year's one-off revenue benefits, the dilutive impact of flying at Berlin Tegel, and new accounting standards delaying the recognition of revenue.