London pre-open: Stocks seen weaker as OPEC, US election eyed
Stocks in London were expected to open on the back foot as investors looked ahead to this week’s OPEC meeting in Algeria and a debate later in the day between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 22 points lower than Friday’s close at 6,887.
CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson said: “This week’s gathering in Algiers between OPEC and non OPEC members has been on the markets radar for quite some time now, as the various actors stake out their positions with respect to a production freeze. Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro set the ball rolling last week, claiming he had secured an undertaking from Iran’s President Rouhani about the potential for action on rising output.
“This seems highly unlikely but it helped underpin the oil price for most of last week, with some chatter suggesting that Saudi Arabia might also be open to a deal if Iran capped its own output.”
As far at the debate is concerned, Hewson said a good performance from Trump could see market volatility increase particularly if investors think there is a possibility that he could actually win.
On the macroeconomic front, BBA loans for house purchase data is at 0930 BST, while in the US, new home sales are at 1500 BST.
In corporate news, highly experienced Icap operating director Ken Pigaga has had second thoughts about moving to Tullett Prebon along with colleagues as part of its voice broking acquisition.
Pigaga, after a decade at Icap following stints at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, has decided not to take up the position of director and chief operating officer of the newly formed group TP Icap, the companies revealed on Monday.
Holiday airline Monarch was working to reassure customers and the market that it was fully operational on Monday morning, after widespread speculation over the weekend that it was going over the brink.
The airline - majority owned by secretive City investment firm Greybull Capital - issued a statement saying it was trading well, even though the industry was in a period of difficulty.
Monarch’s Twitter account was filled with speculation from customers on Saturday and Sunday, asking it about its financial health, and whether their booked holidays were safe.
The firm said on Monday that it was in good shape, and expected to post more than £40m in underlying earnings for the financial year through October.
Capital & Counties Properties’ (Capco) subsidiary Covent Garden Holdings agreed to a placement of £175m 10-year and 12-year senior unsecured notes with five US investors, in order to strengthen the company’s capital structure and provide greater financial flexibility.
The first tranche of £125m will have a fixed coupon of 2.28% due in 2026 and the second tranche of £50m at a fixed coupon of 2.37% due in 2028.
.