London pre-open: Stocks to rise amid Sino-US trade optimism

London stocks were set to rise at the open on Monday amid growing optimism over a Sino-US trade deal.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 18 points higher at 7,320.

CMC Markets analyst David Madden noted that some progress was made at the back end of last week.

"The US has had concerns about the dip in the Chinese yuan, in addition to intellectual property rights, and positive steps were taken in relation to those issues," he said.

"Overnight, stocks in China traded higher on optimism surrounding the US-China trade situation. On Sunday, Wilbur Ross, US commerce secretary, said the licences for US firms to sell to Huawei will be granted shortly, and that announcement boosted sentiment as it points to progress being made."

On the UK data front, Markit's construction PMI for October is out at 0930 GMT.

In corporate news, Marston's said it was selling 137 pubs to Admiral Taverns for £44.9m as part of its plan to cut debt through the disposal of non-core assets.

The pubs being sold are smaller wet-led leased, tenanted and franchised pubs, the company said in a statement, adding that the deal is expected to complete before the end of November.

International Consolidated Airlines Group has agreed to purchase Air Europa for €1bn through its wholly-owned Iberia airline.

The company, which also owns British Airways and Aer Lingus, said the move will transform its Madrid hub into a true rival for other European airports such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London Heathrow and Paris Charles De Gaulle.