London pre-open: Stocks seen slightly higher

Stocks in London were set for a modestly higher open on Friday as investors continued to digest the implications of Donald Trump’s presidential victory.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 18 points higher than Thursday’s close at 6,845.

CMC Markets’ Jasper Lawler said: “With a thin economic calendar on what is Remembrance Day for a number of countries, and as the post-election excitement dies down at the end of the week, volatility should begin to normalise. On Friday, European markets look set for a positive open.

“The huge turnaround in sentiment, characterised by a record high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average is showing signs of creaking. Europe was unable to sustain the euphoria on Thursday with a mostly lower finish. The FTSE 100 stumbled, falling over 1%. The huge gains in the British pound coupled with some weakness in the price of oil proved enough unwind the positive sentiment towards UK stocks.”

Corporate news was pretty thin on the ground.

Global mobile satellite communications provider Inmarsat announced on Friday it will provide its new ‘GX for Aviation’ in-flight broadband solution to Austrian Airlines' continental aircraft fleet under a “landmark” new contract.

The FTSE 250 company said more than 30 Austrian Airlines aircraft from the Airbus A320 family will be equipped with GX for Aviation, which its board said is the world's first in-flight connectivity solution with reliable high-speed global coverage provided through a single operator.

It said the new service will allow the airline's passengers to browse the internet, stream videos, check social media and more, with service levels on par with broadband connectivity available on the ground.

SIG’s third quarter revenue rose, but like-for-like sales fell as the building products distributor was affected by a slowing activity around the EU referendum, while its chief executive announced he was stepping down.

For the quarter ended 31 October, revenues increased 10.6% compared to last year, as the FTSE 250 company benefited 8.9% from foreign exchange rates and 3.9% from acquisitions, which offset a fall of 1.4% due to fewer working days.

Royal Dutch Shell planned to continue investing heavily in Brazil over the next five years, with the aim of doubling its deep-water production by the early 2020s.

In remarks to The Wall Street Journal, the firm´s executive vice president for deep-water, Wael Sawan, said Shell would invest $10bn more, on top of the $30bn already deployed in South America´s largest economy.

There are no major UK data releases due on Friday.