London pre-open: Stocks seen touch higher

London stocks were expected to open a little higher on Thursday, continuing the positive tone from the last two sessions but with investors likely to pause for breath after the last few days of volatility.

The FTSE 100 was set to open seven points higher than Wednesday's close at 6,367.

CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson said: “In an absolutely stunning four day turnaround the FTSE100 has managed to post not only its lowest level in four months at the end of last week, but also its best close since April 21st as yesterday the UK’s main benchmark managed to reclaim all of its post Brexit losses, and could well finish the month in positive territory.

“Even so it remains very much an outlier when compared to other stock markets around the world, which means we need to treat it with caution, particularly since the FTSE250 is still 7.5% down over the same period, and US stocks also remain shy of their highs last week.”

On the economic calendar, the third release of first-quarter UK GDP is at 0930 BST. In the US, initial jobless claims are at 1330 BST and Chicago PMI is at 1445 BST.

In corporate news, private equity firm 3i said it had no plans to dispose of its investment in Dutch discount retailer Action despite a number of approaches.

“3i is actively engaged in the further development of Action and is not intending to sell its investment or organise a flotation of Action in the near future,” the company said.

“Action continues to grow strongly and, based on trading to mid-June, is performing on a trajectory similar to its 2015 performance with a similar level of like-for-like sales growth. Action is currently also on track to open materially more new stores this year than it did last year.”

Rio Tinto said it was ending its involvement with Papua New Guinea by giving up ownership of the Panguna copper mine on Bougainville island which closed for around 25 years after a rebellion by secessionist.

The miner said it would transfer its majority 53.8% shareholding in Bougainville Copper to an independent trustee to manage the distribution of the shares to the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and Papua New Guinea (PNG).

"By distributing our shares in this way we aim to provide landowners, those closest to the mine, and all the people of Bougainville a greater say in the future of Panguna," Rio Tinto said.

The ABG and PNG will both hold an equal share in BCL of 36.4 per cent if the transfers are completed. This ensures both parties are equally involved in any consideration and decision-making around the future of the Panguna mine.

International investor and manager of infrastructure projects John Laing Group issued a pre-close update for the half-year to 30 June on Thursday, and confirmed total investment committed to date of £76m.

The FTSE 250 firm maintained its full-year guidance for investment commitments, in line with the £180.5m achieved in 2015.

Its board said it has realised £57.7m from investments to date, and maintained its full-year realisation guidance of £100m, excluding a £19.5m transaction agreed in February.

Legal & General said it made £4bn of sales across bulk annuities, individual annuities and lifetime mortgages in the first half, as it felt little disruption from the uncertainty around the EU Referendum. L&G, which entered the lifetime mortgage market last year, said it now provides more of these to its customers than individual annuities and expects this trend to accelerate as more baby boomers retire and choose to access their housing wealth to help fund their retirement, instead of buying an individual annuity.