London pre-open: Stocks seen higher as oil advances, despite weak China data

The FTSE 100 was seen opening 35 points firmer than Friday’s close at 6,160.

Data released earlier showed Chinese exports dropped 1.8% on the year in April versus expectations for a flat reading, while imports tumbled 10.9% from the previous year, which was a much steeper fall than the 4% forecast.

Despite the lacklustre nature of Friday’s US data and broader economic data in general oil prices continue to remain fairly resilient on an expectation that a tightening of supply will eventually happen,” said CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson.

“The expectation that the Alberta fires could rage for months, potentially affecting output, along with a change in the top of the Saudi Arabian oil ministry and a report that new oil discoveries are down at a 60 year low has helped underpin prices.”

On the macroeconomic front, there are no major UK data releases due.

With hot food in its belly, Greggs got off to a strong start of the year with a 5.7% rise in like-for-like sales in spite of the tepid conditions on British high streets. As the food-on-the-go group continues is major investment programme, it improved trading at its own stores to 3.7% from the 2.3% growth reported in the fourth quarter of last year despite the modest footfall reported elsewhere.

Sales took a turn for the worse at Dignity in the first quarter, with the funeral services provider seeing profits fall 13% and sales by 5%. Management said the first quarter results were consistent with their expectations for the full year after the abnormally high death rate of 2015 is expected to reverse this year.