London pre-open: Stocks set for lower start on rate jitters
London stocks were expected to start the session sharply lower, tracking the losses seen on Wall Street at the end of the previous week.
As of 0746 GMT, futures on the FTSE 100 were pointing 122 points lower to 7,379.50, even as Sterling surrendered 0.73% against the Greenback to 1.2745.
The US dollar was also making fresh inroads against the euro which was last changing hands at 1.0724 despite French president Emmanuel Macron's victory in second-round voting at the weekend.
"Friday’s sell off marked the end of a disappointing week for markets in Europe, as well as the US after Fed chair Jay Powell signalled that the Federal Reserve could well go much harder, and a lot quicker when the central bank pulls the trigger on the first of what might be several 50bps rate hikes, starting next month," said CMC Markets UK chief market analyst Michael Hewson.
Also dampening sentiment were reports that the European Union was preparing smart sanctions against imports of Russian oil, although in remarks to Die Welt the bloc's foreign policy said there was not yet enough support for a complete embargo nor for punitive tariffs.
Elsewhere on the geopolitical front, UN chief, Antonio Guterres, was scheduled to visit Ankara on Monday and Moscow on Tuesday in a bid to try and re-energise peace talks.
Some observers were hoping that an agreement on evacuating the city of Mariupol or for a ceasefire during the Greek Orthodox Easter might generate the needed momentum for talks to succeed.
The Confederation of British Industry was scheduled to release its Industrial Trends survey for April at 1100 GMT.
Two hours before, Germany's IFO institute was set to publish the results of its closely-followed business confidence survey for the euro area's largest economy.
British Land and GIC ink tie-up agreement
Real estate investor British Land has sold a 75% stake in the bulk of its Paddington Central assets to GIC for £694.0m in order to establish a new joint venture between the pair. British Land said establishment of the joint venture, which was unconditional and will be within three months, sees it deliver against one of its key strategic priorities of proactively recycling capital out of mature assets where it has created "considerable value".
Urban Logistics said on Monday that it had deployed a further £45m of capital at a blended net initial yield of 6.7% since 28 March. The FTSE 250 real estate investment trust said its total deployment since its December fundraise now stood at £184m, at a blended net initial yield of 5.4%. It had agreed five new lettings, three rent reviews and two lease regears in the period, covering 630,000 square feet of space. Rent reviews and regears were settled at a blended 13% increase over passing rent, the board said.
LondonMetric Property on Monday said it had bought six London urban logistics warehouses in separate transactions for £26.7m, reflecting an anticipated blended initial yield of 4.3% and a reversionary yield of more than 4.5%. The assets are expected to generate a total rent of £1.2m a year. In a separate deal, the company sold a multi-let industrial estate for £8.5m.