London pre-open: Stocks to rise on positive US, Asian cues
London stocks were set to rise at the open on Wednesday following solid US and Asian sessions.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 58 points higher at 7,625.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Ahead of today’s European open we look set to open higher largely due to Asia markets rallying strongly, as they picked up the baton from last night’s positive US close.
"US stock markets appear to be becoming more comfortable with the sharp increase in yields, finishing higher on the day across the board.
"The increase in yields hasn’t been confined to US bond markets, with the UK gilt yield returning to levels last seen at the end of 2018 at 1.48%, while UK 2-year gilt yields hit their highest level in over 10 years at 1.35%."
In corporate news, housebuilder Barratt reported a slight rise in interim profits and lifted its dividend despite an 11% fall in completions and weaker revenue.
The company posted pre-tax profit of £432.6m for the six months to December 31, up 0.6%. It completed 8,067 homes during the period. Revenue fell 9.9% to £2.2bn and the dividend was lifted by almost half to 11.2p a share.
Customised electronics manufacturer DiscoverIE Group said that strong trading momentum seen in the first half had carried over into the four months ended 31 January, with a further strengthening of the firm's order book and significant year-on-year revenue growth.
DiscoverIE said it was on track to deliver full-year underlying earnings for continuing operations ahead of previous internal expectations, despite ongoing supply chain headwinds, while group orders were up 18% year-on-year and group sales 34% ahead of the prior year at constant currency.