London pre-open: Stocks seen up on positive US and Asian cues as trade worries ease

London stocks looked set for a positive open on Friday, taking their cue from upbeat sessions in the US and Asia after the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 hit all-time highs a day earlier.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 24 points higher at 7,391, as worries about the trade conflict between the US and China eased.

CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "The tariffs that were announced by both sides during the week were deemed to be not as harsh as originally suspected. The US in particular showed restraint, but that was partially so the Trump administration would have more ammunition should they feel it is required down the line. Now that the latest series of tariffs are out of the way, investors fell back into their bullish routine."

On the data front, public sector net borrowing figures are due at 0930 BST while the Bank of England's quarterly bulletin is at 1200 BST.

In corporate news, Smiths Group returned to growth last year as revenue increased but currency swings and reclassification of costs sent annual profit down 8%.

Underlying revenue rose 2% to £3.2bn in the year to the end of July though reported revenue fell 2%. Reported operating profit fell to £544m from £589m.

SIG's profits shrank 22% in the first half of the year as the building products supplier continues its transformation and reported that it was "starting to see evidence of delivery".

Underlying profit before tax fell to £26.9m in the six months ended 30 June, from £34.4m a year before, on revenues up 1% to £1.36bn.

Rare disease specialist Shire announced that the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) in Japan has granted manufacturing and marketing authorisation for the ‘FIRAZYR’ icatibant injection, for the acute treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE) attacks in adult patients with HAE.

The FTSE 100 drugmaker said the use of FIRAZYR in Japanese patients was examined in an open-label, single-arm, Phase 3 study of eight adult patients with a confirmed diagnosis of HAE who experienced angioedema attacks.