London pre-open: Stocks seen lower amid rise in Europe Covid cases

London stocks were set to fall at the open on Monday amid concerns about the slow vaccine rollout in Europe and rising Covid-19 cases.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 14 points lower at 6,694.

CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "Yesterday it was announced the EU is set to block exports of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccination to the UK. Relations between the two sides haven’t been great recently. The trading bloc has underperformed with respect to rolling out vaccinations, more than 10% of the region’s population have been vaccinated, while the UK reading is roughly 43%.

"It is reported that Brussels is contemplating the harsh measure as a way of fast-tracking their own vaccination scheme but Britain might retaliate and halt exports to continental Europe. Brussels is citing a vaccine supply crisis as a reason behind the possible export ban, but it reeks of political antics. A tit-for-tat export ban will harm both sides and in turn, will probably put pressure on stock markets as the re-opening of economies will be delayed."

Investors will also be mulling a 15% slide in the Turkish lira after President Erdogan sacked the country’s central bank chief over the weekend and replaced him with a critic of high interest rates.

In corporate news, B&Q owner Kingfisher reinstated its dividend as it reported soaring annual profits and a strong start to the new fiscal year on higher demand from "a new generation of DIYers" working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pre-tax profits rose 634% to £756m on a 7.2% increase in sales to £12.3bn. A dividend of 8.5p a share was declared against 3.33p a year earlier. First quarter like-for-like sales were up 24.2% to March 18, Kingfisher said.

Centamin's pre-tax profit for the year to the end of December jumped 82% to $315m (£228m) as the higher price of gold more than offset a dip in production during the Covid-19 crisis. Revenue rose 27% to a record $829m and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased 54% to $439m.

The FTSE 250 gold miner proposed a final dividend of 3 cents a share, taking the total 2020 payout to 15 cents a share. Centamin said it would pay at least $105m of dividends in 2021.