London pre-open: Stocks to nudge down as investors keep an eye on geopolitics

London stocks were set to nudge lower at the open on Monday as investors continued to keep an eye on geopolitical developments, with Sino-US talks due later this week.

The FTSE 100 was called to open six points lower at 7,552.

London Capital Group analyst Jasper Lawler said: "The most important risk event this week is the start of the US China trade talks on Tuesday and Wednesday. Should we start to see signs of progress in trade negotiations between the two powers, risk appetite will improve. However, headlines to the contrary are likely to see renewed demand for the dollar and flows out of currencies such as the aussie dollar, the pound and the euro."

Turkey was also likely to remain at the forefront of investors’ minds. "Whilst confidence has lifted towards Turkey and the crisis appears to have temporarily settled, it is by no means out of the woods yet,” said Lawler. "Turkish markets are closed this week, which means volumes will be particularly low, therefore big swigs could be expected potentially unnerving traders once again."

Figures released earlier by Rightmove showed that UK house prices dropped 2.3% in August, as new sellers launched a ‘late summer sale’ to try and find a buyer more quickly.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst, said: "Sellers who come to market in the peak holiday month often have a pressing need to sell and price down accordingly, and are offering ‘summer sale’ prices to entice holiday-distracted buyers.

"The market started its most recent cyclical price upturn in 2010, and since then the average price of property coming to market has gone up by 32%, stretching buyer affordability. More substantial discounts are therefore required to tempt warier buyers, with higher house prices also tightening the purse strings of lenders. With lacklustre average wage growth, more buyers are bumping up against the tighter lending criteria brought in four years ago following the Mortgage Market Review, which were intended to prevent another boom-and-bust cycle."

In corporate news, NMC Health plumped earnings 30% in the first half of the year as the Gulf private healthcare operator treated more patents and acquired a cosmetic surgery business and a chronic care specialist.

Revenues of $932m were generated in the six months to 30 June, up 20.2% on the same period last year, with organic growth accounting for 13.4% of this growth.

Polymetal announced that, on 18 August, about 2000 tonnes of gold concentrate had been shipped by rail from Kyzyl to an off-taker in China, with concentrate shipments to the Amursk POX hub expected to start next month. In the meantime, it said the ramp up of Kyzyl was running according to plan.

By October, the operation was projected to achieve its nameplate capacity of 150 Kt per month and recoveries of 86%.

LondonMetric has bought two urban logistics warehouses for £23.5m, reflecting a blended net initial yield of 4.9%, rising to 5.6% after five years, with an average lease length of 13 years.

The first is a 48,000 sq ft warehouse in Avonmouth, let to pallet supplier and distributor CHEP at a rent of £0.7m a year, subject to annual retail price index-linked reviews of between 2% and 4%. The second is a 80,000 sq ft warehouse in Cambridgeshire, let to nutritional ingredients supplier Cambridge Commodities at an annual rent of £0.5, also subject to RPI-linked reviews of between 2% and 4%.

TBC Bank posted a 38.9% jump in underlying net profit for the second quarter of 2018 to reach 119.9m Georgian lira, alongside a sharp improvement in its cost-to-income ratio to 35.6%.

The Georgia-focused lender also saw its net interest margin improve, from 6.8% in the year ago period to 7.1%. For the front half of its financial year, net profits were 17.8% higher to 217.4m lira.