London pre-open: Stocks seen up on positive Wall St cues
London stocks were set to rise at the open Friday following losses in the previous session, as investors continue to eye developments in the Ukraine conflict and mull hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 40 points higher at 7,591.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "As we look to today’s European open, because of the positive finish in US markets last night we look set for a positive open, however as far as the weekly performance is concerned it’s a more mixed picture with the DAX on course for a weekly decline, while the FTSE100 could well finish higher for the fifth week in succession."
He noted that European markets slid back for the third day in a row on Thursday, as investors absorbed the messaging from Wednesday’s Fed minutes, and the outlined plans to reduce the size of the balance sheet, by $95bn a month, with the potential for a start date next month.
"Scepticism around progress on peace talks between Russia and Ukraine also didn’t help with Ukrainian President Zelensky accusing the Kremlin leadership of not being serious about them," Hewson said.
In corporate news, financial services company CMC Markets said the fourth quarter of its recently wrapped up trading year had been its strongest, leaving full-year net operating income at the top end of guidance.
CMC Markets said annual net operating income was predicted to be approximately £280.0m, a record performance outside of the Covid-19 pandemic period, but did also warn that gross leveraged client income was pegged to have fallen from £335.0m to £288.0m, while leveraged and non-leveraged trading revenues were expected to have slipped 34% and 12% year-on-year, respectively
Sustainable technology company Johnson Matthey said it expected annual results to be in line with market expectations, but warned of continued supply chain disruption for its automotive customers and increased cost inflation.
In a trading update, the company said growth was driven by improved performance in its clean air division, where it saw increased activity in autos as end markets partially recovered.