London pre-open: Stocks to edge lower ahead of Budget

Stocks are expected to start the session slightly lower ahead of this afternoon's Budget statement and following the release of weaker than expected Chinese trade data for the month of February.

The Footsie was being called to start the session down by eight points from Tuesday's closing level of 7,338.99.

Chancellor Philip Hammond would present his Spring Budget at 1230 GMT with the focus expected to be on the need for continued belt tightening despite upwards revisions to the OBR´s growth forecasts.

"A cheaper pound couldn’t prevent the FTSE from trading lower overnight. UK stocks are expected to open on the downside in London. Whether the cheap pound could benefit UK stock prices will depend on the budget announcement and the market’s reaction to a potentially upbeat economic outlook for Britain, though preparing for a bumpy Brexit journey, " said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, Senior Market Analyst at LCG.

Acting as a backdrop, data released overnight showed China´s exports grew at a 4.2% year-on-year clip in February (consensus: 13%), after a rise of 15.9% in the month before. Imports were stronger, expanding at an annualised clip of 44.7% (consensus: 20.0%), which was up from a 25.2% rise in January.

Nonetheless, if both January and February data are combined in order to eliminate distortions from the Chinese Lunar New Year, then exports were ahead by 11% and imports by 34.1%, Julian Evans-Pritchard at Capital Economics said.

"Looking ahead, we expect external demand to remain fairly strong during the coming quarters which should continue to support exports. However, we doubt that the current pace of import growth can be sustained. For a start, the favourable base effects that have boosted commodity price inflation, and therefore import values, will reverse before long. And more fundamentally, with growth in China currently running above trend and both monetary and fiscal policy being tightened, it is only a matter of time before we see a slowdown in domestic demand," Evans Pritchard said.

The monthly US ADP payrolls report for February is scheduled for release at 1315 GMT.

CMC Markets in growth mode

Online retail trading provider CMC Markets announced a major new stockbroking partnership with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group on Wednesday, which would result in CMC becoming the second largest stockbroker in Australia by both number of clients and trades executed.Following a transition period, CMC will service more than 500,000 ANZ retail stockbroking clients under the ANZ Share Investing brand, with gross revenue projected to increase by approximately AUD 40m.

Insurer Legal and General said full year pre-tax profits rose 17% to £1.6bn as the net cash increased 12% to £1.4bn.Adjusted operating profits rose to £1.6bn from £1.4bn. Earnings per share were up 19% at 22.2p. The full year dividend was up 7% 14.35p a share."With further political and economic uncertainty anticipated in 2017 and beyond, we expect further market volatility. The risk of slowing global economic activity remains and no business model can be fully immunised," L&G said. "However, we believe the opportunities available to the Group, primarily in the UK and US, remain attractive."

Frankie & Benny’s and Chiquito owner Restaurant Group said 2016 was "challenging" following poor trading across its leisure brands with like-for-ike sales down. Revenue was up 3.7% to £710.7m but like-for-like sales were down 3.9% compared to to the previous year.

Admiral's full year profits fell by a quarter due to the government's recent changes to the 'Ogden' rate at which personal injury claims are calculated, though the hefty dividend held steady as underlying profits edged higher. Turnover for calendar-2016 rose 22% compared to the prior year at £2.6bn, profit before tax pre-Odgen grew 3% to £389.7m, but including Ogden it was down 25% to £284.3m.