London pre-open: Stocks seen higher on Biden win

London stocks were se to rally at the open on Monday as investors cheer Democrat Joe Biden’s US presidential election win.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 70 points higher at 5,981.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "While President Trump still appears to be in denial about the loss of the Presidency to the Democrats and Joe Biden and still refusing to concede, markets appear to be unconcerned about the prospect of a contested outcome, and now appear to have moved on to what might happen next.

"US markets managed to reverse all of their losses of the previous week, posting their best weekly performance since April, despite the uncertainty of Washington politics, as the narrative moved on to what might well happen under a Biden administration, which for the moment, looks to have been deprived of a majority in the Senate.

"The calculation here appears to be that a continued Senate majority for the Republicans will act as a brake on some of the more radical Democrat policies on higher regulation and taxation, though with a Georgia runoff for the contested Senate seats due in January, the possibility of a blue wave could still happen."

Closer to home, Brexit talks are set to resume this week. Hewson said that while the narrative around this remains as fluid as ever, and varies according to whom you chose to talk to, "it is clear the main points of difference remain around fishing rights, and competitions rules, or the level playing field".

In corporate news, Taylor Wimpey said full-year results would be at the upper end of expectations after better-than-expecting trading in the second half.

The house builder said that with sites operating at or near to normal capacity and “a strong order book and resilient customer demand we now expect 2021 completions to be between 85-90% of 2019 levels”.

TP Icap said it expected annual revenue at constant currency in line with the year before after income fell in the third quarter. Revenue fell 19% to £388m in the three months to the end of September and by 16% excluding currency movements. The interdealer broker said transactions were particularly subdued in the third quarter but that volatility from the US election and Brexit would support full-year revenue.

Bunzl has agreed to purchase Brazil-based personal protection equipment (PPE) distributor SP Equipamentos. The distribution and outsourcing company did not reveal the price being paid, but said SP Equipamentos had revenue of BRL 143m (£22m) in 2019. Completion was expected at the end of November.