London pre-open: Stocks seen higher after better-than-expected China data

The FTSE 100 is seen starting 54 points higher than Tuesday’s close at 5,983.

“This morning’s latest China December trade data showed that exports only fell 1.4%, instead of the 8% decline expected which suggests that the recent currency falls may be starting to have an effect,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

“Imports fell 7.6%, which was again a slight improvement and better than expected. These improvements do appear to suggest that while the economy is slowing things may not be nearly as bad as markets had been fretting about and as such we look likely to see a positive open this morning in Europe, even if Chinese stock markets don’t appear to be basking in the improvement that much.”

Sainsbury’s expects strong second half

Sainsbury's like-for-like retail sales were down 0.1% over the festive third quarter but by less than was forecast, leading the grocer to say that the second half as a whole is likely to be better than the first. Chief executive Mike Coupe, who made no mention of his recent rebuffed takeover offer for Home Retail, said the supermarket lifted total retail sales 0.8% excluding fuel.

Completions for housebuilder Barratt rose 9.4% in the six months to the end of 2015 with the average selling price up 10.8% and total forward sales up 20% to £2bn.

The company said overall, market conditions were “good and we remain confident in our outlook for the full year”, including the return of £667m to shareholders over two years to November 2017.

Provident Financial said it expects its profit before tax for the year to be in line with market expectations of £291m.

In a trading statement released Wednesday, the lender said its group results have been bolstered by strong growth from Vanquis Bank and a marginal increase in profit from its Consumer Credit Division.

“All our businesses have traded well through the final quarter of the year and our funding position remains strong," said chief executive Peter Crook.