London pre-open: Stocks seen lower as investors continue to digest Brussels attacks

The FTSE 100 is seen starting 25 points lower than Tuesday’s close at 6,167.

“While travel and hotel stocks took a bit of a hit yesterday in the wake of the Brussels terror attacks equity markets in general were able to shrug off the worst of their intraday losses, with European markets managing to just about finish the day in positive territory,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

“One of the consequences of yesterday’s events was a further slide in the pound which had already been under pressure due to political events over the weekend. The assumption being taken by traders was that as far as the Brexit debate was concerned, events in Brussels yesterday could well make the arguments for staying in the EU much harder to justify by the “remain” campaign.”

There are no major UK data due but in the US, MBA mortgage applications are at 1100 GMT and new home sales are at 1400 GMT.

Kingfisher full year profit nudges higher

Full year sales at home improvement retailer Kingfisher fell 2.6% to £10.3bn while adjusted pre-tax profits rose 0.3% to £686m.

Retail profit was up 7.4% to £746m in constant currencies.

"In the short term, the fundamentals of the UK economic backdrop remain positive, although we remain cautious on the outlook for France. The outlook for the wider global economy remains uncertain, and the impact of the outcome of the UK EU referendum is unknown," the company said.

Chief executive officer Véronique Laury said: "This has been a very productive and important year. We have delivered a good 'business as usual' result with both sales and profit growth in constant currencies, driven by our performance in Poland and the UK, driven largely by Screwfix, and a stable performance in France."

AstraZeneca's Brilinta drug missed its target during a trial in stroke patients, proving less effective than aspirin. Clinical tests of Brilinta had been assessing efficacy of 90mg tablets taken twice daily compared to aspirin 100mg once daily in patients with acute ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA).

National Grid announced its new UK executive director on Wednesday, appointing High Speed 1’s Nicola Shaw to the role.

The FTSE 100 electricity infrastructure firm said the appointment complemented that of John Pettigrew’s, who was announced as CEO in November.

“Nicola has a strong track-record in leading important infrastructure businesses and in working with the UK government and regulators,” said National Grid chairman Sir Peter Gershon.

“Her broad experience makes her ideally placed to help National Grid deliver value for our customers today and into the future,” he added.

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