London pre-open: Stocks set to rise after Fed minutes

The Footsie is expected to start the day comfortably higher on the back of sharp gains on Wall Street in the wake of the minutes of the US Federal Reserve's October policy meeting overnight.

The top flight index is seen starting the session about 28 points above Wednesday's close of 6,278.97.

US stocks jumped sharply following the release of the minutes of the US central bank's last policy meeting, despite the fact that it left the possibility of a December rate hike wide open.

The summary of US rate-setters' debate about whether or not raise rates in October had a less hawkish bias, leaving the door open to a tightening of monetary policy in December but seemed to imply a shallower path of rate rises thereafter as well.

"The minutes suggest that the committee remains divided. However, since the time of the October meeting, we see them as having reached a broad consensus on a December rate hike," economists at Barclays said following the release of the minutes.

Deutsche Bank was of a similar view but added: "This doesn't mean to say that a hike wouldn't be a policy error and it'll be too early to conclude on this for sometime. Monetary policy works with a lag that can be around 1-2 years and we worry that with global nominal growth still so low, the Fed has left it rather late in the cycle to be hiking. In our minds we still see 2017-2018 as potential recessionary years which fits with the above."

On Thursday morning, the Bank of Japan announced its decision to stay put on monetary policy, as was widely expected.

UK retail sales figures are due for release at 09:30.

CRH registers large rise in nine-month sales

Building materials group CRH said sales in the nine months to the end of September rose 16% from last year, as it reiterated its guidance that 2015 will be a year of growth thanks to continued positive momentum in the Americas. Cumulative sales from continuing operations increased to €15.5bn (£10.8bn), while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation were up 34% to €1.5bn.

Meggitt has won a multi-million dollar contract to provide the cargo smoke detection system (CSDS) for the Boeing 777X aircraft. The company did not give a specific value on the contract. Production will start in 2017 from Meggitt's facility in Simi Valley, California to meet entry into service in 2019.

Australia’s competition watchdog has approved the proposed merger of Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group, leaving just two more major regulatory hurdles and shareholder approval of both companies. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) rubber-stamped Shell’s $47bn cash and share takeover offer of BG Group late on Thursday morning (Wednesday night UK time).

Revenues were flat at Royal Mail in the first half as UK and European parcel growth offsett letters weakness, while the focus on costs saw group operating profit flat. Adjusted profit before tax down 16.4%