London pre-open: Stocks seen touch higher as investors eye Brexit, Fed
Stocks in London were set to open a touch firmer on Tuesday as investors kept a close eye on Brexit-related developments and looked ahead to a rate decision from the Federal Reserve.
The FTSE 100 was called to open six points higher than Monday's close at 7,373.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has won the right to kick off divorce proceedings with the European Union after Parliament passed the Brexit bill. The bill is now expected to receive Royal Assent and become law later on Tuesday.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at London Capital Group, said May is expected to wait until the end of this month to begin what is projected to be a two-year process.
Meanwhile, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon outlined plans on Monday to hold a second independence referendum, an idea that was condemned by May, who said it would create "uncertainty and divisions".
Away from Brexit, investors were likely to be erring on the side of caution ahead of Wednesday's rate announcement by the Fed, amid expectations of a 25 basis points hike to between 0.75% and 1.00%.
In corporate news, higher metals prices and lower cash costs helped push full year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation at Antofagasta up 78.7% to $1.6bn.
Group revenue in 2016 was $3.62bn, up 12.3% higher than in 2015. The final dividend for the year is 15.3 cents a, bringing the total dividend for the year to 18.4 cents.
Sales growth at Ocado remained in cruise control in the first quarter of 2017 and while order size continued to shrink it did so at a slower rate.
Exactly the same as in the fourth quarter of last year, for the 13 weeks to 26 February, the online grocery group saw sales climb 13.1%.
Oilfield services company Wood Group has won two contracts totalling $84.89m to provide engineering services to develop deepwater production for BP’s Mad Dog project in the Gulf of Mexico.
For the first $80m contract, Wood Group, which has been contracted by Samsung Heavy Industries, will provide engineering and procurement services for the topsides for BP’s Mad Dog phase two floating production unit.
Specialist building products distributor SIG posted its results for the 2016 calendar year on Tuesday, at the same time as confirming Meinie Oldersma as its new group chief executive.
The company's revenue grew 11.2% during the year, or 4.4% at constant currencies, to £2.74bn, while underlying operating profit slipped 8.6%, or 14.9% at constant exchange rates, to £91.3m.