London pre-open: Stocks to edge lower despite positive US session

London stocks looked set to edge down at the open on Thursday despite a positive session on Wall Street, with the pound trading back above $1.30.

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

CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "It was another stellar session last night for US stocks. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ racked up all-time highs again, as optimism about a trade deal with Canada and positive broker recommendations for certain tech stocks drove the indices higher.

"US equity markets were in good shape during the week on account of the new trade agreement that was struck between the US and Mexico. Yesterday we heard from two high ranking Canadian politicians, Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, and Chrystia Freeland, the foreign minister, and both were optimistic about a deal being reached in the near-term. President Trump has made a lot of noise about hammering out new trading arrangements to better suit the US, and he is clearly making progress, and he is confident that Canada will agree to the new trading terms by tomorrow."

Meanwhile, sterling was back above $1.30 after the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said on Wednesday that he was prepared to offer an unprecedented partnership to the UK.

On the data front, net lending, consumer credit and mortgage approvals are all due at 0930 BST.

In corporate news, Vodafone has agreed to merge its loss-making Australian mobile joint venture with broadband provider TPG Telecom in a deal valuing the combined company at about A$15bn (£8.4bn).

The UK phone company and its partner, Hutchison Telecommunications, will each own 25.05% of the merged group with the remaining 49.9% held by TPG shareholders.

AstraZeneca announced that the European Commission has approved Bydureon BCise - exenatide 2mg prolonged-release suspension for injection in pre-filled pen - as a new formulation within the marketing authorisation for Bydureon, for the treatment of patients with type-2 diabetes.

The FTSE 100 drugmaking giant said the new formulation of once-weekly Bydureon was an improved single-dose, pre-filled pen device that required no titration, and was approved for use in combination with other glucose-lowering medicines, including basal insulin, to help improve glycaemic control in adults with type-2 diabetes whose blood sugar levels were inadequately controlled by other glucose-lowering medicines together with diet and exercise.

SSE welcomed the provisional findings of the Competition and Markets Authority's inquiry into the proposed merger of its household energy and services business in Great Britain and Innogy’s retail business npower.

The company said that, following a "thorough and in-depth" investigation, the competition watchdog had provisionally concluded that the proposed merger of SSE Energy Services and npower did not raise competition concerns.