London pre-open: Stocks to edge up as Ukraine crisis remains in focus
London stocks were set to rise at the open on Wednesday following a mostly positive session in Asia, as the Russia-Ukraine crisis remained at the forefront of investors’ minds.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 18 points higher at 7,512.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Yesterday’s underwhelming response by Western leaders to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions on Monday night saw European equity markets rebound from their lows to finish the day mixed.
"The uncertain response appears to be about what constitutes an invasion, in particular with respect to the disputed regions. Given that Russia has, up until this week, denied the presence of its forces in Donbas and Luhansk, and now has admitted its forces are there, it comes across as pedantry at best.
"While it's always sensible to react cautiously when responding to a provocation, when you spend most of the last few weeks’ warning of ‘massive’ sanctions, it rather undermines your narrative if you fail to deliver them when your warnings are ignored.
"The reaction of US markets played out in a similar fashion initially, however they rolled over again after markets in Europe had closed, after Putin got his own parliament to rubber stamp approval for Russian troops to operate outside the country, thus making further escalations much more likely."
In corporate news, annual profits more than doubled at Britain’s Barclays Bank, boosted by economic recovery and the release of provisions for bad loans during the Covid pandemic.
The bank reported a record annual pre-tax profit of £8.4bn, up from £3.1bn in 2020. It released £653m set aside for loan defaults compared with a charge of £4.8bn the year before. The net release included a reversal of £1.3bn in non-default charges, primarily reflecting the improved macroeconomic outlook.
Cybersecurity firm Darktrace has agreed to buy attack surface management company Cybersprint as part of a deal valued at €47.5m.
Darktrace said the acquisition, which is aligned with its vision of delivering a 'continuous cyber AI loop', would be paid approximately 75% in cash and 25% in equity, valuing the transaction at around 12.5 x the company’s annual recurring revenue.