London pre-open: Stocks set for muted start

London stocks were set for a muted open on Wednesday following a slightly weaker finish on Wall Street.

The FTSE 100 was called to open flat at 7,030.

Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Ava Trade, said: "European and US futures are trading flat, and it seems that the stock market is more of in a holding pattern. Bulls are trying their best to keep the momentum going; however, they are finding it hard to push the prices back towards their record price level.

"Investors are hoping that the technology sector will take the lead once again, and we may begin to see inflation anxiety and concerns ebbing away."

In corporate news, UK food and clothing group Marks & Spencer swung to a heavy full-year loss as it felt the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The company reported pre-tax losses of £209.4m for the 53 weeks to April 3 compared with a profit £67.2m a year earlier. Group revenue fell to £9.1bn from £8.9bn.

M&S said overall trading for the first six weeks of the financial year and since reopening had been ahead of the comparable period two years ago in 2019/20.

"At this early stage our central case is that we will generate profit before tax and adjusting items between £300m-350m and as capital expenditure recovers towards pre-pandemic levels, our ambition is for a further reduction in net debt," the company said.

British Land's annual profit fell by more than one-third and the value of its properties dropped by more than 10% as the Covid-19 crisis took its toll on the commercial landlord.

Underlying profit for the year to the end of March dropped 34.3% to £201m as British Land made provisions for non-payment of rent. The value of its portfolio fell 10.8% to £9.13bn. The annual dividend fell to 15.04p a share from 15.9p.

The FTSE 100 company said trading was encouraging since non-essential shops were allowed to reopen with footfall up 88% and sales up 104% at its retail sites.