London pre-open: Stocks to edge down amid lack of catalysts

London stocks were set to edge down at the open on Wednesday amid a lack of catalysts, as we head closer to the Bank Holiday weekend and to Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 14 points lower at 7,110.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Today’s Asia session has been a subdued one with little in the way of drivers one way or the other, and as such today’s European open looks set to start slightly on the back foot.

"While it’s not surprising that the focus is very much on Fed chair Jay Powell’s speech and a possible framework for a tapering of asset purchases by the end of the year, recent events could well see this pushed out to the September Fed meeting.

"The last-minute decision to hold this week’s meeting virtually appears to be a tacit admission by the Federal Reserve that the surge in the delta variant is still a clear and present danger to the US recovery, and while cases may well be starting to top out now, that may well reverse when the schools go back next month."

In corporate news, building materials group Grafton reported record profits and reinstated its dividend after a strong performance from its Woodies business in Ireland.

The company said adjusted pre-tax profits soared 340% to £148.6m on revenues up 46.1% to £1.02bn. A dividend of 8.5p a share was declared.