Tuesday preview: Vote in Parliament, BP in focus

The focus on Tuesday will be on a vote in Parliament on whether to hold fresh general elections on 9 December.

That is assuming that a vote on Monday night on a government motion for the elections to be held on 12 December falls through first, as many observers are widely anticipating.

Also overnight, tech giant Alphabet is due to release it latest quarterly figures.

And in Japan, a reading on core consumer prices in Tokyo for October is due out.

Against that backdrop, consumer credit and mortgage lending figures for September are set for release at 0930 GMT, preceded by Nationwide's UK house price index for October which is due to be released before the start of trading.

Stateside, S&P's Case-Shiller 20-city home price index for August is scheduled for release at 1300 GMT, followed by the National Association of Homebuilders pending home sales index referencing the month of September at 1400 GMT.

The market spotlight on the corporate front meanwhile will be on BP's third quarter update and, according to analysts at RBC, what it has to say regarding speculation in some corners of the market that it might be set to boost its capital returns for shareholders, either through a hike in its dividend payout or via increased share buybacks.

With the company's gearing in excess of 30.0% - one of the highest in the sector - analysts at RBC told clients: "we think it would be much more prudent for BP to de-lever the balance sheet first before raising DPS, and given the shares trade on 6.5% yield, clearly there is work to be done to enhance the perception of dividend sustainability before looking to raise the fixed payout."

Their forecast was for the oil major's net income to print at $1.8bn, alongside operating cash flow of $6.4bn excluding working capital requirements and Macondo-related payments.

They had penciled-in $200.0m of Macondo payments for the quarter.

According to RBC, BP was also likely to be queried on the impairments that its divestments had triggered.

Rival Equinor had recently announced its own write-downs on the back of lower long-term price assumptions for oil and gas.

Tuesday 29 October

TRADING STATEMENTS

BP

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Flowtech Fluidpower

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Confidence (US) (14:00)

Pending Homes Sales (US) (14:00)

AGMS

Vela Technologies

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Credit (08:30)

M4 Money Supply (08:30)

Mortgage Approvals (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

City of London Investment Group, Rank Group