London pre-open: Stocks seen flat as US markets re-open
Traders were expecting London stocks to make very modest advances on Thursday morning as Theresa May released details on her Brexit plans and ahead of the US markers reopening after their holiday.
The FTSE 100 index was being called four points higher after finishing at 7,573.09 the previous session.
Ahead of talks between the Prime Minister and German counterpart Angel Merkel on Thursday, 10 Downing Street said the new plan offers "the best of both worlds".
The new "facilitated customs arrangement" is designed around allowing the UK the freedom to set its own tariffs on goods arriving into the country, the BBC reported. Technological solutions would be put in place to determine beforehand where good will end up and whether UK or EU tariffs should be paid.
Overnight, US President Trump was reported to have asked his aides why he couldn’t invade Venezuela, having earlier also publicly threatened Middle East oil producers with a withdrawal of the US defence umbrella if they will not lower oil prices. Iran, meanwhile has hinted it might block the Straits of Hormuz.
Later on Thursday morning, Bank of England governor Mark Carney is due to speak in Newcastle, presenting a possible opportunity for questions about interest rates.
When America wakes up post Independence Day, it's an important day for US data, says market analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets, with a snapshot of the US labour market with the latest ADP employment report, as well as the ISM services report for June.
"ADP payrolls are expected to add 190k new jobs in June while the latest ISM services update is expected to show another strong month of 58.3, down slightly from 58.6 in May.
"We also have the latest Fed minutes where as expected the Federal Reserve raised rates by 25 basis points at its meeting last month. This was not a surprise given it had been well telegraphed and the decision was unanimous."
In company news, Associated British Foods said profits were improving at its Primark clothing retail arm but lower EU sugar prices were dragging elsewhere. The conglomerate reported little change in sales patterns in the third quarter, with revenues for the first 40 weeks to 23 June up 2% or 3% at constant currency rates.
Glencore will begin a share buyback of up to $1bn between now and the end of the year, it announced on Thursday. The first part of the programme, worth up to £350m, will start on Thursday and end no later than close of dealings on 7 August.
Superdry announced a special dividend as the clothing brand reported a rise of more than 11% in annual profit. The FTSE 250 fashion group said it would pay shareholders 25p a share on top of its 31.2p ordinary annual dividend, which rose 11.4%.