London pre-open: FTSE to rise ahead of Fed decision

Wednesday's session is expected to see a continuation of the previous day's gains, ahead of the latest policy decision announcement by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around 29 points higher than Tuesday's close of 6,402.17.

The gains were being driven in part by US data, which showed that consumer confidence had hit a seven-year high. Attention is also very much on the FOMC meeting, which kicked off on Tuesday and will be concluded on Wednesday, when the Fed will announce whether it will end the remaining $15bn of monthly bond buys.

In the view of chief market analyst at CMC Markets, Michael Hewson, investors can expect the Fed to call time on the purchases, but predicts that "in an attempt to push out interest rate expectations, it will probably leave the language of the statement unchanged".

Alpari UK market analyst Craig Erlam observed that the mood leading up to the announcement seems to indicate that people are anticipating a more dovish Fed "in response to the slowdown in the Eurozone and the disinflation that has been gripping many of the major economies".

"Expectations are far more dovish than what we had a couple of months ago before that sell-off in the markets knocked everyone's confidence," he said. "If they're correct though, this is positive for the markets and could help them push beyond the current highs if confirmed by the Fed."

Back in the UK and in company news, clothing retailer Next warned on profits after warmer weather led to much weaker sales in September and October more than offsetting an encouraging August. As a result, sales in the third quarter increased by just 5.4%, versus the company's original expectation for a gain of 10%. Given the recent volatility in trading, the firm has lowered its guidance for fourth quarter and hence full year sales. It reduced its full year profit guidance by 3% to £770m, from £795m.

Standard Life reported a 13% increase in fee revenue from continuing operations over the nine months to the end of September, to hit £1,032m. That came as assets under administration from continuing operations increased to £290.0bn, driven by net inflows of £4.3bn and the acquisition of Ignis Asset Management. Management highlighted how the increased focus on fee business, which the disposal of its Canadian operations will allow, will enable it to return £1.75bn of capital to shareholders.

Johnson Matthey has agreed to acquire the battery materials business of Clariant AG for $75m. The deal, which is expected to complete early in 2015, covers all of the assets of Clariant's Energy Storage business including its manufacturing facility in Candiac, Quebec, an R&D centre and pilot plant in Moosburg, Germany together with the customer order book and a substantial IP portfolio.