London pre-open: Stocks seen flat ahead of Trump and Xi meeting
London stocks were set for a steady open on Friday, with investors likely to err on the side of caution ahead of this weekend's meeting between China's Xi Jinping and US President Trump.
The FTSE 100 was called to open just one point higher at 7,403.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at London Capital Group, said: "The ongoing tension between the US and China is certainly more than just a simple trade war. Therefore, it will probably take more than this week’s meeting to agree on all aspects at stake.
"The US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin has recently stated that the countries were ‘about 90% of the way’ to seal a deal, adding ‘there’s a path to complete this’. Although the chances of seeing a trade deal by the end of this weekend remain low, investors will be chasing any progress that could hint at an eventual resolution for the year-old trade dispute."
On the data front, first-quarter GDP data is out at 0930 BST, along with current account figures.
In corporate news, John Laing said it was on track to meet its expectations for the year despite operational problems at renewable energy projects in Europe and Australia. The infrastructure company left its full-year outlook unchanged and predicted net asset value at the end of December would be broadly in line with management expectations.
Riverstone Energy confirmed that it has invested $100m in Argentine oil and gas gathering and processing-focused midstream company, Aleph Midstream S.A, which is on track to become the first midstream player focused on providing gathering, processing and evacuation services for oil and gas production of Argentina's "world class" Vaca Muerta shale play.
The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) has made two onshore wind investments, increasing the proportion of its portfolio in France to 13% from 10%.
It said it has acquired a 34.6% equity interest and all of the shareholder loans in Fujin SAS - a holding company that owns a portfolio of five operational wind farms in France with a gross generation capacity of 87.8MW.
The 250 company said it also acquired a 100% interest in the Epine windfarm, which it described as a 36MW operational wind farm located in Northern France, near Reims, from TTR Energy and Nordex.