London pre-open: Stocks seen flat after Tuesday's rally

London stocks were set for a steady open on Wednesday following strong gains in the previous session, which saw the FTSE 100 hit its highest level since March as investors cheered the Brexit deal and US stimulus.

The top-flight index was called to open flat at 6,603, as AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine was given the green light in the UK.

Volumes were expected to remain light, with many traders away from their desks until after the new year.

Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Ava Trade, said: "Investors seem to be less enthusiastic about the Brexit trade deal today. However, this isn’t to say that they aren’t optimistic anymore. The Brexit trade deal is the best thing that happened to the UK and there is no doubt that once the country has controlled the coronavirus situation, the economic growth will be mammoth.

"There will also be a strong reflection of this in the FTSE 100 index’s performance, which is clearly the laggard index among other European indices."

Aslam said approval of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine "is certainly good news because there is no doubt that the current coronavirus vaccine demand is nowhere close enough to supply".

"Another major company getting its vaccine approved by the lawmakers will further improve the coronavirus situation as the number of Covid cases are ticking higher over in Europe and in the US," he said.