London pre-open: Stocks to fall as investors mull UK GDP
London stocks were set to fall at the open on Monday, taking their cue from a downbeat Asian session, as investors mull the latest UK GDP data.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 42 points lower at 7,627.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "In Asia, markets have got off to a poor start and this is expected to similarly weigh on today’s European open ahead of another key week for inflation data, with UK, German and US CPI for March due tomorrow."
On home turf, figures out earlier from the Office for National Statistics showed that GDP rose just 0.1% on the month in February, down from 0.8% in January and coming in below consensus expectations of 0.3% growth.
That left the economy 1.5% above its pre-coronavirus pandemic level in February 2020.
Pantheon Macroeconomics said: "Looking ahead, we maintain that GDP likely will fall by about 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in Q2. The end of free Covid-19 testing in April and widespread vaccinations in the summer points to a further sharp decline in output in the health sector.
"In addition, past experience suggests that June’s extra public holiday, to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, will subtract about 0.4% from the level of Q2 GDP. Furthermore, a sharp quarter-on-quarter decline in households’ real disposable income in Q2 likely will bring the recovery in households’ real expenditure to a stand-still. Given this weak near-term outlook for GDP growth, we continue to think that the MPC will stop increasing Bank Rate after raising it to 1.0% next month."
In corporate news, information and data company Ascential confirmed it was considering a break-up of the group.
The announcement came after a Sky News report, citing unnamed sources as saying that Ascential, which has a market capitalisation of £1.49bn, is working with investment bankers on plans to demerge its digital operations and list them separately in the US.
Investment firm Sirius Real Estate said that total annualised rent rolls had grown in what had been "a transformative year" for the company, marked by its successful raising of €700.0m through two oversubscribed issuances and the group's entry into the UK market via its strategic acquisition of BizSpace.
Like-for-like rent roll growth in Germany was up 6.4% year-on-year, while in the UK, rent roll growth was stronger at 7.5%. Total annualised rent rolls increased to €167.1m, up from €96.5m at the same time a year earlier.