London pre-open: Stocks seen a touch lower after negative US session
London stocks were set to nudge down at the open on Wednesday following a negative session on Wall Street.
The FTSE 100 was called to open five points lower at 6,767.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: “As we come to the end of the month as well as the quarter it is perhaps worth reflecting on the fact that it’s been a fairly decent period for equity markets, despite the lockdowns across Europe and in the UK, although there has been mixed progress on the vaccine rollout, with the UK excelling and the rest of Europe appearing to do their level best to mess it up.
“Despite the divergent progress being made between Europe and the UK, it is European markets that have performed the better, though that could well change if Europe doesn’t get its act together in Q2.
Yesterday markets in Europe saw records broken with the DAX closing at a record high, while the FTSE100 lagged behind, while US markets sank back, posting modest losses, although the Russell 2000 managed to claw back half of its losses from Monday. The US 10-year yield continued to rise for all the right reasons, hitting a 14-month high, as economic data continued to look solid.
This weak finish is likely to see European markets open slightly lower this morning, after a weaker Asia session, as we get set to run the rule over more economic data, some dated, in the case of the UK, while the latest Chinese PMI’s showed the Chinese economy was expanding quite nicely, particularly in services, which showed a big jump to 56.3.”
In corporate news, Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk said it expected total 2021 gold production of 430-470,000 ounces (koz) made up of own gold production of 370-390koz and third-party gold production of 60 - 80koz.
It also said capital expenditure would rise to $140m, including exploration spend of $20m, from $118m in 2020.