London pre-open: Stocks seen a little lower amid growth, Brexit concerns

Investors were also likely to be cautious ahead of rate announcements from the FOMC and the Bank of Japan this week.

The FTSE 100 was expected to start seven points lower than Monday’s close at 6,038.

“Investors are scared of the unknown which is a concern in itself,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Forex.

“Brexit fears have increased the anxiety among traders and recent polls which are indicating that the Leave group are gaining the lead is adding fuel to the fire. Traders want to take advantage of this increase in volatility but at the same time they don’t want to get burnt either.”

On the data front, UK CPI, RPI and PPI are at 0930 BST. In the US, retail sales are at 1330 BST, while business inventories are at 1500 BST.

Direct Line Insurance Group said it had received approval from the Prudential Regulation Authority to use its partial internal model (PIM) to calculate the solvency capital requirement under EU solvency rules.

“In line with management's previous expectations, this approach will enable the group to operate under the PIM from 1 July 2016,” Direct Line said.

Swiss-based Daetwyler Holding AG has agreed to buy London-listed electronic component distributor Premier Farnell for 165p per share in cash.

The price represents a premium of around 51% to Premier’s closing price on Monday and values the company at approximately £615m.

“Daetwyler believes the combination of Daetwyler and Premier Farnell represents a strong strategic fit and is highly attractive,” Premier said in a statement.

After a strong fourth quarter where profit margins grew to record levels, Ashtead has announced a bumper dividend and a £200m share buyback.

The construction equipment rental group proposed hoisting the final dividend to 18.5p, meaning the total payment of 22.5p will be up 48% on the previous year.