London pre-open: Stocks seen higher following Friday's losses

London’s FTSE 100 is seen starting 30 points firmer than Friday’s close at 5,878.

It will be a quiet day on the macroeconomic front, with no major UK or US data releases due.

BT on the hunt for new finance director

BT Group has confirmed reports that it is looking for a new group finance director.

Sky News reported on Saturday that Tony Chanmugam is set to leave the job later this year, after holding the role since 2008.

The FTSE 100 company confirmed on Monday that Chanmugam “may step down later this year” and that a search process is underway.

It said no formal decision has been made about a replacement or around the potential timing of any change.

Randgold Resources was in a surprisingly robust position in its end-of-year-results on Monday, despite lower gold prices pushing the company's profit down in the 12 months to 31 December 2015.

Production and costs were in line with the company's annual guidance, with the FTSE 100 company setting a new production record of more than 1.2m ounces - up 6% on the previous year.

Group total cash cost per ounce was down 3% to $679 (£467.60) per ounce.

The firm reported strong cash flows from operations, boosting cash on hand by 158% to $213.4m, though profits for the year were down due to lower gold prices - to $212.8m from $271.2m a year earlier.

Nevertheless, Randgold's board proposed a 10% increase in the annual dividend, which the board said reflected the strong cash flows generated by the business.