London pre-open: Stocks set for higher start on hopes for US debt ceiling talks

Stocks in London looked set for a slightly higher start at the end of the week amid hopes over the talks underway to raise the US government's debt ceiling.

Overnight, US President Joe Biden and the Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, postponed unti the following week a meeting that had been scheduled to take place on Friday.

The announcement sparked optimism that aides for both sides had made progress, something that was later reportedly confirmed.

Against that backdrop, as of 0735 BST the FTSE 100 was being called to start the session 24.5 points higher at 7,755.50.

Nevertheless, the top-flight index was still on track for a weekly loss.

On home shores, the Office for National Statistics said that gross domestic product expanded at a quarter-on-quarter pace of 0.1% over the first three months of 2023, as expected.

At 1500 BST, the University of Michigan was scheduled to release preliminary results for its closely followed consumer confidence survey covering the month of May.

Balfour Beatty, Beazley please

Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty said it expected annual profits to be flat, with current trading in line with expectations. In a trading update ahead of its yearly shareholders meeting, the company said its order book was £17bn compared with £17.4bn at the end of December.

Beazley posted strong growth for the first quarter and reiterated its full-year guidance. Gross premiums grew by 12% to $1.37bn with net premiums ahead by 24% to 1.07bn. Premium rates on renewal business jumped y 10%. Net income from investments meanwhile came in at $104m. The specialist insurer also expressed confidence in its outlook for the first half, adding that it was confident that it would hit its full-year guidance. The full-year combined ratio was still seen in the high 80s.