London pre-open: Stocks seen up ahead of further Russia-Ukraine talks
London stocks were set to rise at the open on Monday ahead of further talks between Russia and Ukraine.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 15 points higher at 7,170.
Danske Bank said: "Both Russia and Ukraine have expressed optimism that peace talks have made progress and that results could materialise in the coming days. The fourth round of talks begin today."
Despite the positive call, CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson wasn’t so hopeful.
"The sad reality is that any ceasefire remains some way off, with Russia’s behaviour over the weekend pointing to increasingly desperate measures to crush Ukrainian morale by a campaign of indiscriminate bombing, as they widened their target area to parts of western Ukraine," he said.
"There is also a concern that any new Russian measures might include the use of biological and, or chemical weapons."
In corporate news, thermal processing services provider Bodycote said it had made "good progress" in 2021, with both revenues and profits growing throughout the year.
Bodycote posted a 3% uptick in revenues to £615.8m, which, when coupled with a 2.8 percentage point increase to 15.4% in its headline operating margin, helped the group deliver a 26% increase to £94.8m in headline operating profits.
Basic headline earnings per share were up 29% at 35.8p and the group paid a final ordinary dividend of 13.8p per share, taking its full-year dividend from 19.4p in 2020 to 20.0p in 2021.
Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto has made a $2.7bn bid to buy the 49% of Canada’s Turquoise Hill it doesn’t own as it looks to settle its relationship with the Mongolian government over the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper project.
Rio is offering 34 Canadian dollars in cash a share, a 32% premium to Turquoise Hill's last closing share price on the Toronto Stock Exchange.