London pre-open: Stocks seen muted ahead of net borrowing figures

London stocks were set for a muted open on Friday on what is expected to be a fairly quiet day’s trading.

The FTSE 100 was expected to open just two points higher at 7,489.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: “While the FTSE100 closed strongly higher, due to the weak pound, European markets slipped back after the euro pushed up to its highest levels in two years against the greenback.

“The strength of the euro does appear to be acting as a bit of a headwind for European stocks as they look to close the week sharply lower, in contrast to the performance of UK and US stocks this week.

“The pound has had a disappointing week despite economic data that on the face of it has been fairly good, however the weaker than expected inflation numbers has taken some of the pressure off the Bank of England in terms of the prospect of a potential tightening of policy, while the slow progress on this week’s initial Brexit talks probably isn’t helping.”

On the data front, investors will eye the release of public sector net borrowing figures at 0930 BST.

In corporate news, Vodafone has reported improved growth in the first few months of its new financial year thanks to strong growth in the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific (AMAP) region.

Organic service revenue in the first quarter across the group accelerated to 2.2% from 1.5% in the fourth quarter, as Europe grew 0.8%* and AMAP 7.9%. Good momentum was seen in Europe, with robust growth in Italy and Spain, similar underlying trends in Germany, and the UK said to be "recovering".

In an unusual double, Paysafe Group has struck a $470m deal to acquire US-based Merchants' Choice Payment and also received an 590p-a-share takeover proposal from private equity companies Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners.

After rejecting initial proposals from Blackstone and CVC in May, Paysafe has granted the consortium due diligence access on the basis of a possible 590p-a-share offer, which values the company at £2.8bn.

Merchant bank Close Brothers said on Friday that it remains confident of a “good result” for the current financial year as it has continued to perform well across all divisions.

In a pre-close trading update ahead of its 2017 financial year end, the company said the loan book in its banking division was up 6.4% year-to-date to £6.8bn