London pre-open: Stocks set to rise sharply at start of trading

Stocks are expected to start the session comfortably higher thanks to the strong showing put in by Wall Street overnight.

The Footsie is being called to rise by as much as 57 points to 6,338.67 at the start of trading.

As of 07:24 the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Composite Index was edging higher by 1.23% to reach 3,379.01.

Foremost on investors minds this Friday will be the release of the latest US industrial and consumer confidence data due out later in the session, following very poor readings on Thursday for the state of manufacturing in the country's Northeast.

Such figures have been weighing on rate hike expectations Stateside.

"There are significant doubts emerging that the Federal Reserve will even be able to consider raising rates this year, irrespective of last night’s comments by New York Fed Chief Bill Dudley that a 2015 rate move was still in play," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

Eurozone consumer price data for September are also scheduled to be published at 10:00BST.

FDA issues response letter on Astra's diabetes drug

The US Food and Drug Administration has issued a complete response letter regarding AstraZeneca’s new drug application for the investigational fixed-dose combination of saxagliptin and dapagliflozin for the treatment of adult patients with type 2 diabetes. Astra said the letter states that more clinical data are required to support the application, including data from ongoing or completed studies. In addition, the FDA may require information from new studies.

British American Tobacco has purchased the final necessary number of shares in listed Brazilian subsidiary Souza Cruz to enable it to take the company private in coming months. An auction launched by wholly owned subsidiary British American Tobacco Prestação de Serviços has snapped up BRL 9.33bn (£1.58bn), or 22.4% of Souza Cruz, to take London-based BAT's total ownership to 97.7% of Brazil's largest cigarette maker.