London pre-open: Stocks seen lower as US, China tariffs kick in

London stocks were set for a downbeat open on Thursday, with the US-China trade war very much in focus as each country implemented 25% tariffs on $16bn worth of each other's goods, as talks between the two in Washington were set to continue.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 19 points lower at 7,555.

CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "The monetary size is small but the gesture is big, and traders will be eyeing developments."

Investors will also be digesting the latest FOMC minutes released on Wednesday, which suggested that the Fed is likely to hike interest rates next month.

"The US central bank essentially said it would soon be ‘appropriative’ to tighten the monetary policy as there is ‘strong’ economic growth," said Madden.

"Policy makers expressed concern that a prolonged trade spat with China could curtail business investment and spending. Overall, the Fed were optimistic in their outlook and seem as if they are content to remain in their hiking cycle."

On the data front, the CBI distributive trades survey is at 1100 BST.

UK ministers are due to publish the first tranche of documents setting out Britain’s preparations for a no-deal Brexit shortly before lunchtime. Before that, Dominic Raab will make his first big speech as Brexit secretary, during which he is expected to say that Britain will take unilateral action in the event of a no-deal Brexit in order to keep trade and transport flowing freely.

In corporate news, CRH reported a 5% increase in first-half profit as the building materials group benefited from recovering construction markets.

Pre-tax profit from continuing operations rose to €497m (£446m) from €475m in the six months to the end of June as revenue increased 1% to €11.9bn.

AstraZeneca announced top-line results from the AERISTO phase IIIb trial for Bevespi Aerosphere (glycopyrronium/formoterol fumarate) in patients with moderate-to-very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on Thursday.

The pharma giant said that in the trial, Bevespi Aerosphere demonstrated non-inferiority to umeclidinium/vilanterol on peak forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), but did not demonstrate superiority on peak FEV1 or non-inferiority on trough FEV1.

"The performance of Bevespi Aerosphere in AERISTO is inconsistent with previous data," said AstraZeneca’s head of respiratory Dr Colin Reisner, adding that a full analysis was underway.

Specialist lending and retail savings group OneSavings Bank announced a strong set of results for the six months ended 30 June , reporting a 17% improvement in profit before tax to £91.8m.

The FTSE 250 challenger bank said its net loan book grew 11% year-on-year, driven by 17% growth in gross organic origination to £1.44bn. Basic earnings per share were 27.3p, up 13%, with the board declaring an interim dividend of 4.3p per share, up 23%.