London pre-open: Stocks to edge up after worst day since 1987

London stocks were set to rise at the open on Friday, having suffered their worst one-day fall since 1987 in the previous session as worries about the coronavirus pandemic gripped markets.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 53 points higher at 5,390.

Oanda analyst Jeffrey Halley said: "As if this week couldn't get any stranger, today is a real Black Friday, Friday the 13th. Friday the 13th is also a rather infamous series of slasher movies, with the main protagonist, Jason Voorhees, resurrected in a series of sequels to wreak havoc on the local teen population on various Friday the 13th's. From a financial markets point of view, Jason hasn't bothered waiting for Friday this time, slashing his way through equity, energy, currencies and now bond markets throughout the week. He has left a trail of destruction in his wake far higher than the body count in any of his starring roles.

"The Federal Reserve did its best last night, announcing a 3-day $1.5 trillion blitz of liquidity to the markets via the repo market. That only caused a temporary pause in the markets sell-off, which resumed shortly thereafter. The limitations of monetary policy are being laid bare by the financial markets when used in isolation."

On the corporate front, BT chief executive Philip Jansen said he had tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus and self-isolated.

"I've met several industry partners this week so felt it was the responsible thing to do to alert them to this fact as soon as I could," Jansen said in a statement. "Given my symptoms seem relatively mild, I will continue to lead BT but work with my team remotely over the coming week. There will be no disruption to the business."

Premier Oil said it was in talks on cutting its 2020 capital expenditure programme with initial analysis suggesting at least $100m of savings and deferrals could be made "with potential for further reductions".

The company said it would be broadly cash flow neutral in 2020 assuming a $100m reduction in planned capex and $35/bbl oil price for the rest of the year. Full year production guidance was maintained.