London pre-open: Stocks seen muted after Tuesday's gains
London stocks were set for a muted open on Wednesday following solid gains in the previous session amid hopes of a ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict.
The FTSE 100 was called to open down around three points at 7,534.
Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Ava Trade, said: "US and European futures are trading lower while investors continue to pay close attention to the landmark shift in geopolitical tension in Ukraine. Oil prices are highly volatile on the back of Russian military news, and traders are awaiting significant economic numbers, determining the future path for US equity markets.
"The most important economic number for today is the US ADP Job data. This data sets the tone for the upcoming US NFP number, which is due on Friday. Last month, we saw tremendous improvement in the US labour market, making the Fed raise the interest rate. Traders are expecting a decent number this time as well, and the forecast is for 455K while the previous reading was 475K.
"A strong reading is likely to trigger a risk-on rally for the US equities as investors will feel more comfortable with the Fed's tightening of monetary policy. If the number misses the forecast and shows weakness, speculators are likely to punish the markets because they believe that the Fed is making another policy mistake."
In corporate news, gold miner Polymetal maintained full-year production guidance and said operations in Russia and Kazakhstan continue undisrupted.
The company said bullion sales remained unaffected by sanctions on Russia as a result of the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Production guidance for 2022 of 1.7 Moz of gold equivalent remained in place.
Russia-focussed gold producer Petropavlovsk said that it was in the early stages of discussions with advisers and Gazprombank relating to a potential restructuring of the group's debt.
Petropavlovsk stated that following the inclusion of Gazprombank on the UK sanctions list, it had been prohibited from repaying more than $10.0m it owed to the bank as a consequence of the regulations.