London pre-open: FTSE to open higher early on

A small gain is predicted for UK stocks at Monday's opening bell, with City sources predicting the FTSE 100 will open around 10 points higher than Friday's close of 6,750.76.

Markets jumped on Friday after a surprise interest-rate cut from the People's Bank of China in an attempt to avert a sharp slowdown in growth.

Chinese authorities are reportedly set to once again cut their interest rates amid widespread concerns over a drop in prices. According to an unnamed senior economist quoted by Reuters, the country's "top leaders have changed their views" and the central bank has now moved its focus towards broad-based stimulus.

As for Monday's sessions, traders will also be digesting the news that global business confidence has fallen to its lowest level in five years. A survey of 6,100 companies revealed that fewer companies anticipate higher business activity in the coming year compared to a decline than the number that did in June.

"Clouds are gathering over the global economic outlook, presenting the darkest picture seen since the global financial crisis," Chris Williamson, Markit chief economist, said.

"A key factor that has held back economic growth in recent years has been the disappointing performance of major emerging market economies, and this looks set to continue, and perhaps even intensify, over the coming year."

Monday's session will see the release of German IFO business confidence data, which is expected to deliver a drop to 103.0 from 103.2 previously.

Investors will also be looking ahead to Thursday's meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), where members will face a tough decision over whether to cut output in the wake of a 30% slump in crude prices since June.

The meeting, which will be held in Vienna at the organisation's headquarters, is expected to divide OPEC's 12 members over the decision. The cartel produces around a third of global crude output, with a target of 30m barrels per day.

In company news, Astrazeneca's Duaklir Genuair treatment has been granted marketing authorisation by the European Commission to be used to relieve symptoms in adult patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The approval of Duaklir was based on efficacy and safety data from more than 2,000 patients in 11 clinical studies, conducted in 29 countries worldwide.

Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton is set to implement more cuts to its capital expenditure as well as reorganise its management ranks. The group said it would trim $600m from its planned capital spending to $14.2bn in the 2014-15 financial year and by $1bn to $13bn in the following 12 months.

Oilfield services group Petrofac has scaled back its profit assumptions for next year, saying that depressed oil prices and the timing of deliveries will result in a weaker bottom line. The company maintained its guidance for net profit of $580m-600m for 2014, but revealed that the result is now expected to come in at the lower end of this range. Looking ahead, while Petrofac had forecast "strong earnings growth" for 2015 earlier this year, net profit next year is now only predicted to be just $500m.