London pre-open: Stocks seen higher amid China hopes

London stocks were set for a firmer open on Monday following a positive session in Asia, with China reopening hopes expected to boost sentiment.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 25 points higher at 7,724.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "In the wake of Friday’s US jobs report and the strong reaction to it, today's European open looks set to be a positive one, with Asia markets also getting a boost as China took further steps to reopen its economy, as it relaxed its zero-Covid policy further resuming travel with Hong Kong."

In UK corporate news, Vodafone said it had entered into binding terms in relation to the sale of its Hungary unit to local IT company 4iG and state-owned Corvinus for €1.8bn.

The deal, which won't include Vodafone's shared services business VOIS, is expected to create Hungary's second biggest mobile network operator. Proceeds from the sale are intended to be used for deleveraging, Vodafone said on Monday.

Elsewhere, Airtel Africa said its Nigerian subsidiary had bought 4G & 5G spectrum from the Nigerian Communications Commission for $316.7m.

The company said it had acquired 100 MHz of spectrum in the 3500MHz band and 2x5MHz of 2600MHz.