Thursday preview: Electrocomponents and Ted Baker in the spotlight
The economic calendar will be very light in the run-up to Friday's monthly US jobs report, with weekly jobless claims data in the US and factory orders figures for August the main figures left for release.
In the euro area meanwhile, after the close of markets, at 1800 BST, European Central Bank governing council member, Benoit Coeure, is set to deliver a speech.
No major economic economic releases are scheduled to be published on Friday.
Among the companies that are set to update their shareholders on Thursday are Electrocomponents and Ted Baker.
For the former, Numis analyst Julian Carter is forecasting a roughly 10% increase in sales per day over the six months to September, on the back of market share gains in the UK.
North America growth is also expected to have been strong.
Carter also expects management to provide some commentary on the IESA acquisition.
Assuming that profits between both halves of the financial year are weighted the same as last year, the analyst predicts profits over the front half of 2019 to come in at about £94m.
For Ted Baker, CMC Markets UK's Michael Hewson says the fashion retailer's interims might reveal continued "decent" quarter-on-quarter sales growth, although the long hot summer may have dampened sales.
"This may explain why the company has embarked on a “Love Ted” Sale which has seen 30% reductions on some lines."
Thursday October 04
INTERIMS
e-Therapeutics, Morses Club , Ted Baker
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Centaur Media, Charter Court Financial Services Group , Greencore Group, Greggs, Maintel Holdings
INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE
888 Holdings, AA , Arena Events Group , Balfour Beatty, Barr (A.G.), Bodycote, Braime (T.F.& J.H.) Holdings (Non-Voting), Bristol & West 'A', Capital & Regional, Cello Health, Cenkos Securities, Central Asia Metals, Fisher (James) & Sons, Foresight 4 VCT, Harvey Nash Group, Hastings Group Holdings , Hunting, Intertek Group, Johnson Service Group, Judges Scientific, Keystone Law Group , Keywords Studios, Kingfisher, Mortgage Advice Bureau (Holdings) , Phoenix Spree Deutschland Limited Shs NPV , Premier Technical Services Group , Restore, Rightmove, SIG, Smith & Nephew, StatPro Group, Synthomer, Taylor Wimpey, TP ICAP, Trans-Siberian Gold, Travis Perkins, TT Electronics, WPP, XLMedia, Xpediator
QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE
British American Tobacco, British Land Company, F & C UK High Income Trust , F&C Private Equity Trust, Merchants Trust, Palace Capital , Schroder Income Growth Fund, Scottish Inv Trust
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)
Factory Orders (US) (15:00)
Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)
FINALS
DFS Furniture, DX (Group)
SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
F & C UK High Income Trust B Shares, Hays
EGMS
Flying Brands Ltd, Tau Capital
AGMS
Fiske, Ilika, Marechale Capital
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Electrocomponents
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Arcontech Group, Diageo, PZ Cussons
FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Abbey, Alumasc Group, Avation, Daejan Holdings, Hansard Global, Hays, HML Holdings, Mid Wynd International Inv Trust, Redde, Smith (DS), Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust