London pre-open: Stocks to edge up ahead of Russia-Ukraine talks
London stocks were set to edge higher at the open on Monday as investors eyed the next round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey.
The FTSE 100 was called to open around 15 points higher at 7,498.
Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid said in a note: "The most interesting news story over the weekend centred around the unscripted finale to Biden's speech in Poland on Saturday. In a remark widely interpreted to endorse regime change in Russia he said, 'For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power'. White House officials immediately tried to soften or walk back the ad-lib remarks, including US Secretary of State Blinken on TV yesterday morning. Other Western countries have distanced themselves from the remarks as countries try to not inflame the situation more than it is already.
"Moving on, with the rates market in prime focus, the highlight of this week is likely Friday’s payrolls print in the US but the preliminary European CPI prints (Wednesday to Friday) might pip it for excitement depending on the numbers. Germany's is out on Wednesday. We also have US ISM on Friday which given last week's strong preliminary global PMIs will be a focus along with the final global PMIs on the same day."
In corporate news, NatWest Group said it was buying back a 4.01% stake in the bank from the UK government for £1.2bn, taking the British taxpayers’ holding to below 50% for the first time since the financial crash of 2008.
The bank said it would cancel the shares once repurchased. NatWest was bailed out by the taxpayer to the tune of £45bn as the global financial system faced meltdown after predatory lending and excessive risk-taking by the sector.
Utilities company National Grid has agreed to sell a 60% equity interest in its UK gas transmission and metering business to a consortium of long-term infrastructure investors.
National Grid said it will receive approximately £2.2bn in cash for its NGG unit from a consortium made up of Macquarie Asset Management and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. Following the transaction, National Grid will retain a 40% minority equity interest in NGG via a new holding company called GasT TopCo.