London pre-open: Stocks seen lower as investors eye G20 meeting

London stocks were set to drop at the open on Wednesday, with investors increasingly jittery ahead of this week's G20 meeting.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 16 points lower at 7,406.

CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "Some traders are getting nervous ahead of the meeting between President Trump and China’s Xi Jinping.

"The relationship between the US and China has been volatile in recent months, and traders are viewing the fact the meeting is taking place as a positive sign, but the gulf between the two sides is large.

"The Trump administration have major concerns about intellectual property protection, and on the other side of the debate, the Chinese government think the Huawei ban is unfair. Should things not work out, both sides have economic tools to put pressure on the other one."

On home shores, BBA mortgage approvals figures for May are due at 0930 BST.

In corporate news, Wood Group said its performance in the first half was up on the prior year in a trading update, reporting that revenue was in line with the first half of 2018, and the company had delivered earnings growth and margin improvement.

The energy services firm said that excluding the impact of IFRS 16, adjusted EBITDA in the first half would be up around 7%, and operating profit would be ahead about 25% over last year. Its full-year outlook remained unchanged.

Elsewhere, Bunzl said that its expectations for 2019 remain unchanged, with interim revenue growth of 2% at constant exchange rates, down from 12% over the same period last year.

The international distribution and services group had first warned of slowing growth back in April as mixed macroeconomic and market conditions damaged the North American business.