London pre-open: Stocks seen higher as investors bet on Biden win

London stocks were set to gain at the open on Thursday amid expectations that Republican Joe Biden will win the US election and as investors digest the latest policy announcement from the Bank of England.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 12 points higher at 5,895.

Ava Trade analyst Naeem Aslam said: "Traders are feeling upbeat about the blue-wave as Joe Biden won Michigan and Wisconsin yesterday. Biden is almost set to send President Trump home. Having said this, this presidential election is like no other as Joe Biden is fighting with President Trump, who is going to use everything in his power to stop Joe Biden from walking into the White House.

"Traders are concerned about legal battles now, which Trump's legal team has opened in order to stop the vote-counting in at least two states.

"Biden now only needs to win Nevada, a state where he is already leading, or Georgia. Joe Biden has 264 votes, and he only needs seven more votes to declare the victory."

On home shores, the Bank of England kept interest rates on hold at a record low of 0.1% and announced it will inject an extra £150bn into the economy as it warned the second lockdown will shrink the economy in the current quarter, leading to a double-dip recession.

The Bank said "there are signs that consumer spending has softened across a range of high-frequency indicators, while investment intentions have remained weak".

"Developments related to Covid will weigh on near-term spending to a greater extent than projected in the August Report, leading to a decline in GDP in 2020 Q4," it added.

In corporate news, Sainsburys said it was axing up to 3,500 jobs as part of a shakeup of its fresh fish and meat counters and Argos stores while reporting a 6.9% rise in first-half retail sales.

The group reported a loss before tax of £137m, reflecting £438m in one-off costs associated with the closure of 120 Argos stores.

AstraZeneca said it was on track to meet full-year guidance as the drugs company reported slowing revenue growth in the third quarter.

Total revenue increased 3% to $6.58bn in the three months to the end of September at constant currency. On the same basis revenue rose 10% to $19.2bn in the first nine months of the year. The company said some revenue was weighted towards the fourth quarter.