London pre-open: Stocks to nudge higher after upbeat Asian session
London stocks were set to nudge just a touch higher at the open on Tuesday following losses the previous day and after a positive session in Asia, as investors eye more earnings news.
The FTSE 100 was called to open four points higher at 7,207.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "While European stocks fell back yesterday, US stocks were slightly more resilient with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both finishing in positive territory, helped by oil prices slipping back from their peaks, and on optimism that last week’s trend of earnings beats will continue later today, when Netflix announces its latest Q3 numbers, after the close of US markets tonight.
"Apple’s share price also finished strongly last night after announcing a series of new upgrades for its laptops, as well as new upgraded AirPods with a higher price tag, at its latest online unveiling yesterday evening.
"Two new MacBook Pros, one with a 14-inch screen and one with a 16-inch screen come with Apple’s own new M1 Pro processors, and a hefty price tag, due to start deliveries next week. Apple says the new chipsets are faster than the equivalent Intel chips.
"Today’s Asia session has seen stocks rebound and this looks set to translate into modest rebound for European markets this morning, after yesterday’s pullback."
In corporate news, Bellway increased its final dividend by almost two-thirds as the housebuilder reported a 72% increase in annual profit and a solid order book.
Underlying pre-tax profit rose to £530.8m in the 12 months to the end of July from £309.3m a year earlier as revenue increased 40% to £3.12bn. Statutory pre-tax profit more than doubled to £479m from £236.7m.The FTSE 250 group increased its final dividend by 65% to 82.5p a share taking the annual payout to 117.5p - up 135%. Bellway said its forward order book was £1.97bn on 3 October, up from £1.87bn a year earlier.
Online price comparison platform Moneysupermarket.com said it was buying consumer cashback website Quidco for up to £101m.
Moneysupermarket said it would pay £87m in cash with a further £14m deferred on a debt-free, cash-free basis.
Quidco is the second largest cashback business in the UK with around one million transacting users. It offers cashback at around 4,500 merchants including retail, travel and switching services, Moneysupermarket added.