London pre-open: Stocks expected to gain after Fed meeting, ahead of Scottish vote

UK stocks look set to gain early on in Thursday's session, ahead of the much-debated vote on Scottish independence and following the conclusion of the latest Fed meeting the previous day.

Overnight, both US and Asian stocks delivered gains, which are expected to help drive the FTSE 100 around 18 points higher at the opening bell after closing at 6,780.90 on Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve reiterated its pledge that it will be “likely” to maintain its rates at their current levels following the end of its third programme of quantitative easing in October.

"The Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) meeting provided [an] element for both bulls and bears to grab hold of and as such, the initial gains that saw the Dow reach a record high, soon gave way to a round of selling," observed Alpari market analyst Joshua Mahony.

"That indecision along with the historic Scottish referendum hanging over the UK and Europe means that markets will no doubt be waiting for the result to gauge market direction."

The referendum closes on Thursday evening, with the outcome largely considered too close to call at this point.

In company news, events and PR group UBM confirmed recent market rumours that it was plotting a $900m acquisition of US rival Advanstar. "UBM confirms that it is involved in discussions which may, or may not, lead to a transaction," the FTSE 250 company said.

Budget airline Easyjet has decided to increase its payout ratio from one third of profit after tax to 40% from next financial year. The company said it has taken the decision "in light of the continued strong financial performance of easyJet and confidence in the future".

Solid performances in the construction and service divisions saw Kier Group register revenue of £3bn in the year ended 30 June, a 51% increase year-on-year. The company’s underlying operating profit rose 59% to £88m, while the underlying profit before tax rose 54% to £73.1m.