London pre-open: Stocks to start higher with traders focused on oil, central banks
UK equities are seen starting the day on the front-foot following following another strong rebound on Wall Street last Friday and gains overnight on the main Asian bourses.
FTSE 100
8,279.43
14:05 24/09/24
FTSE 250
20,804.23
14:05 24/09/24
FTSE 350
4,566.62
14:05 24/09/24
FTSE All-Share
4,522.73
14:05 24/09/24
General Retailers
4,213.74
14:04 24/09/24
Kingfisher
325.00p
14:05 24/09/24
LondonMetric Property
204.40p
14:05 24/09/24
Media
12,647.02
13:59 24/09/24
Real Estate Investment Trusts
2,397.78
13:55 24/09/24
Sky
1,727.50p
16:34 06/11/18
All eyes are on the price of oil, as its crash is increasingly considered, alongside Chinese policy moves, as the main short-term driver which pushed stockmarkets lower in the developed world since the start of the year.
The Footsie is seen starting higher by up to 38 points from Friday´s closing level of 5,900.01.
Overnight, the Shangahi Stock Exchange´s Composite Index finished up 0.75% to 2,938.52.
Front-month Brent crude future were little changed as of 08:31GMT, drifting lower by 0.124% to $32.14 per barrel on the ICE.
Sentiment got a bit shot in the arm over the weekend after Wall Street equity gauges managed to close higher with gains of 2% on average, their largest advance since June 2012. Nevertheless, traders and even some fund managers seemed wary about the staying power of those gains.
Acting as a backdrop, investors are preparing themselves for the results of this week´s policy meetings at the Bank of Japan and US Federal Reserve.
Regarding the latter, in a research report sent to clients on 21 January Barclays said that: "the FOMC is likely to be concerned
about market volatility, soft activity and global developments, but it is too soon for a strong signal about March."
On the economic calendar for Monday, the IFO institute was set to release its German business confidence index for January at 09:00GMT.
At noon, The Confederation of British Industry would release its report on industrial trends for January.
DIY specialist sees uplift from restructuring
B&Q owner Kingfisher said on Monday that it is aiming to deliver a £500m sustainable annual profit uplift by the end of year five of its transformation plan. In a statement ahead of the group’s capital markets day, chief executive officer Veronique Laury said: "With a clear roadmap now in place alongside clear long term targets, the size of the five year opportunity is significant.
Sky has invested $10m (£7.0m) in programmatic marketing analytics, data management and media activation software company DataXu. The FTSE 100 broadcaster said on Monday the investment is another example of the company taking a stake in innovative companies to bring in new ideas, insight and services.
LondonMetric has sold the Odeon Multiplex Cinema property in Preston for £10.2m, the FTSE 250 company announced on Monday. The ten screen, 33,000 square foot cinema was sold to Blackrock UK Long Lease Property Fund and reflected a net initial yield of 5.75%. The property was one of ten Odeon Multiplex Cinemas acquired by the company in November 2013.