London pre-open: Stocks seen touch higher ahead of data

Stocks in London were expected to open a little higher on Tuesday ahead of a slew of data releases.

London’s FTSE 100 was set to open 11 points higher than Monday’s close at 6,820.

On the data front, UK industrial production, manufacturing production and trade balance figures are at 0930 BST, while US wholesale inventories are at 1500 BST.

CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson said: “Later today we get another snapshot of the UK economy with the latest industrial and manufacturing production numbers for June, which could well give us an insight as to whether the 0.6% GDP number for Q2 might see a downward revision in the coming weeks.

“After a pretty poor May performance which saw declines of 0.5% for both the expectation is that we’ll see an improvement to 0.1% for industrial production and -0.2% for manufacturing. The UK trade balance for June is also expected to come in at -£2.5bn, unchanged from May. We’ll also get an early estimate of UK GDP for July from the NIESR which is expected to show a slight moderation from the 0.6% seen in June to 0.4%.”

On the corporate front, Morrisons and Ocado have agreed a new deal, ending their profit-sharing agreement but with the grocer taking roughly 30% capacity of the online specialist's new Customer Fulfilment Centre ("CFC") in Erith and increasing its Morrisons.com non-food range.

A previous restriction on store pick has been lifted, with Ocado abandoning its core centralised philosophy and developing a technological solution that will enable Morrisons to fulfil online orders via its stores all over Britain.

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced results from the Phase III SELECT-1 trial of the MEK 1/2 inhibitor, selumetinib on Tuesday, in combination with docetaxel chemotherapy, as second-line treatment in patients with KRAS mutation-positive locally-advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

The FTSE 100 firm said the results showed that the trial did not meet its primary endpoint of progression-free survival, and selumetinib did not have a significant effect on overall survival.

AstraZeneca said the adverse event profiles for selumetinib and docetaxel were consistent with those seen previously.

“A randomised Phase II trial showed promising activity of selumetinib in combination with docetaxel in patients with KRAS mutation-positive lung cancer,” said

Payments processor Worldpay reported a rise in first-half underlying earnings and pre-tax profit amid strength in all its businesses.

For the six months to the end of June, pre-tax profit rose to £168.6m from £0.3m in the first half of 2015 as revenue jumped 10% to £2.14bn. Net revenue was up 16% to £539.7m and underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were 19% higher at £217.9m.

Chief executive officer Philip Jansen said: “We delivered a strong first half performance, further enhancing our product propositions, and deepening our capabilities and presence, both by geography and across our divisions and verticals. We are well positioned to deliver a good performance in the second half of the year, and our medium-term guidance remains unchanged.

“While the UK's vote to leave the EU has resulted in increased uncertainty, we do not expect it to have a material effect on Worldpay's trading performance. Our confidence in our prospects is reflected in further investment in capabilities to support sustainable growth over the medium-term, and the declaration of our maiden interim dividend of 0.65p per share."