London pre-open: FTSE to register modest gains after strong US finish, weaker Chinese GDP

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around seven points higher than Monday's close of 6,267.07.

At 7.3%, Chinese third quarter GDP came in slightly above expectations, but this was lower than the 7.5% seen in the previous quarter, adding to concerns about the state of the Chinese economy as a whole.

The country's retail sales were somewhat soft at 11.6%, which was lower than expected and, as noted by CMC's chief market analyst Michael Hewson, reinforced fears that China "remains quite a long way away from re-balancing towards domestic consumption".

Meanwhile, over in the US stocks moved higher on Monday after a relatively slow start but ended higher for a third consecutive session.

Back on this side of the Pond, the focus will be on September's public finance figures, which at £9.4bn are forecast to show a modest decline compared to August's £10.9bn.

"For now investors don’t seem too concerned about this, but that could well change if the economic data starts to soften further heading into the fourth quarter, particularly so close to an election that is still too close to call, and could result in another hung parliament," Hewson observed.

In company news, consumer-goods giant Reckitt Benckiser missed analysts' estimates slightly in its third quarter on the back of continuing currency headwinds, while like-for-like sales growth was held back by "tougher markets". The Anglo-Dutch firm, famous for brands such as Nurofen, Durex and Cillit Bang, said that sales excluding its pharmaceuticals division totaled $2.21bn in the three months to 30 September, down 6% from $2.36bn the year before and just shy of the $2.25bn consensus forecast.

Aerospace and automotive engineer GKN reported higher third quarter profit, but forecast lower growth for the rest of the year, particularly in automotive markets, and said the strong pound would hit results, although the group "continues to expect 2014 overall to show another year of progress."

Annual profits were ahead of consensus at online fashion retailer Asos as it put a troublesome year to bed, with management intending to invest in the international pricing to mitigate the strong pound. This will mean profit for the next financial year will be similar to this year, the company warned.