London pre-open: Stocks set to dip ahead of US-China trade talks
Stocks are set for a slightly lower start amid a wave of corporate updates and as traders wait for fresh news out of trade talks in Washington D.C..
As of 0730 GMT, the FTSE 100 was being called to start the session down by three points at 7.225.
Senior US and Chinese officials were due to meet again on Thursday and Friday following the prior week's contacts between the two sides in Beijing.
On the economic calendar for Thursday, the Office for National Statistics was due to publish the latest public borrowing figures for the month of January at 0930.
Stateside, at 1330 GMT readings were due out on durable goods orders for the month of December, alongside the Philly Fed's regional manufacturing index for February.
Barclays falls short
Barclays's posted a small decline in full-year attributable profits -1% to £3.49bn amid difficul trading conditions at its investment bank and after taking a £150m hit from provisions against Brexit losses. The lower than expected result was despite a 5% increase in net operating income to £19.7bn as credit impairment charges and other provisions fell by 37% to £1.47bn and total operating expenses declined by 5% to £16.24bn. The full year dividend was set at 6.5p per share.
Anglo American on Thursday reported a 4% rise in underlying EBITDA to $9.2bn driven by strong prices, particularly platinum group metals, thermal and metallurgical coal and nickel, as well as productivity improvements and cost control. The company said hit took a $600m hit from the suspension of operations at it giant Minas Rio iron ore mine in Brazil. Production is due to resume by the end of the year.
Defence contractor BAE Systems said full year operating profit rose 14.3% per cent to £1.6bn as it warned that Germany's move to halt arms exports to Saudi Arabia could hit its ability to supply the controversial country in the aftermath of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi. BAE said it was working closely with the UK government to "minimise the risk of any such occurrence and the impact it would have on financial performance, the supply chain and relationships".