London pre-open: Stocks seen higher on vaccine hopes, Sino-US progress

London stocks looked set to rise again on Tuesday following a positive session in Asia as Covid vaccine hopes and signs of progress in Sino-US relations helped to underpin sentiment.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 20 points higher at 6,124, having gained in the previous session on fresh hopes of a Covid-19 treatment.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Yesterday’s rebound was probably driven by nothing more than a lack of bad news, fear of missing out, and expectations of continued central bank monetary stimulus, as we look towards the Jackson Hole virtual symposium later this week, driven by concerns that the recent recovery of the last few weeks is showing signs of levelling off.

"The US rebound in particular is being driven by a fairly small cohort of big tech, as well as some small tech shares, and as such could be described as rather unbalanced in nature.

"The buoyant mood was maintained in Asia on reports that Chinese and US officials saw progress on phase one of the US, China trade deal, helping to drive stocks in Asia higher, and helping to underpin the progress from yesterday’s gains. As such today’s European open is likely to see a higher open."

In corporate news, James Fisher cut its interim dividend by 29% as first-half profit fell but the company said it expected trading to improve.

Pre-tax profit for the six months to the end of June fell 59% to £7.1m as revenue dropped 10% to £258.1m and the company wrote down £4.8m of assets. Underlying pre-tax profit fell 28% to £15.1m. James Fisher reduced its interim dividend to 8p a share from 11.3p a year earlier.

AstraZeneca said the UK first participants have been dosed in a Phase I trial of a combination of two monoclonal antibodies to prevent and treat Covid-19.

The trial will evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of the drug, called AZD7442 and will include up to 48 healthy participants aged 18 - 55 years.

"Should AZD7442 prove to be tolerated and have a favourable safety profile in the trial, AstraZeneca will progress it into larger late-stage Phase II and Phase III trials to evaluate its efficacy as a potential preventative and treatment approach against Covid-19," AstraZeneca said.

APAX Global Alpha posted a net asset value return of -0.5% for the first half despite the -11.9% recorded over the first quarter on the back of market weakness. Over the second quarter on the other hand, valuations recovered strongly, rising 13.3%, particularly in the private equity portfolio.