London pre-open: Stocks seen higher on central bank comments

London stocks were expected to open in the black on Thursday, taking their cue from positive sessions in the US and Asia as investors welcome comments from central bankers.

The FTSE 100 was set to open 35 points higher at 7,422

Market participants will be digesting the latest comments from Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who said on Wednesday that she does not believe we will see a repeat of a banking crisis "in our lifetime". Meanwhile, the European Central Bank was forced to clarify its position after it felt markets had misinterpreted head Mario Draghi's upbeat comments the day before, which seemed to suggest an end to economic stimulus. The ECB insisted its policy is working well and will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "The ECB wasn’t the only central bank sending a clear message to the market. The Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, mentioned the possibility of removing some of the stimulus package. This is in stark contrast to his speech last week when he hinted that interest rates won’t be rising anytime soon. The weak pound is playing a role in the UK’s rising inflation, and if sterling picks up we could see inflationary pressure cool."

There will be a slew of UK data for investors to sink their into, with net lending, consumer credit and mortgage approvals all due at 0930 BST.

In corporate news, supermarket giant Tesco gave the CMA a hurry-along over its proposed merger with wholesale group Booker, first announced on 27 January.

The FTSE 100 company said following “continued constructive dialogue”, and further to the commencement of the CMA's Phase 1 review on 30 May, it had now requested that the CMA used its "fast track" process to allow it to move more quickly to examining the merger through a detailed Phase 2 process.

Engineering services company Babcock announced it had been awarded a new contract by the Norwegian Government on Thursday, to provide communities across Norway with “vital” air ambulance support.

The group said the contract - initially for six years with options to extend by a further five years - was worth around £500m for the full 11 years. It would see Babcock operate 11 specialist fixed-wing aircraft from summer 2019, providing thousands of patients with access to specialist healthcare centres across Norway.