London pre-open: Stocks set for higher start after record close for Dow Industrials
Stocks are seen starting the session higher on the back of a record close overnight on the Dow Jones Industrials and continued hopes of looser central bank policies.
"Equity markets in the US rallied yesterday as traders remain hopeful the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. Dealers remain divided as the size of the cut and when we might see the rates being lowered, but the view across the board is that monetary policy will be loosened," said David Madden, market analyst CMC Markets UK.
Against that backdrop, the FTSE 100 was seen starting the last session of the week higher by 31 points to 7,540.
Chinese foreign trade data covering the month of June, due out later, will be in focus in the early part of the session.
Scheduled for release later in the day are factory gate price data in the US covering the month of June at 1330 BST.
Marketing services group DCC reports in-line trading
Sales, marketing and support group DCC said it had traded in line with expectations in the first quarter, with “good growth” in group operating profit, driven by acquisitions completed in the prior year. “DCC's profits are significantly weighted towards the second half of its financial year. At what is still a very early stage in the financial year, the group reiterates its belief that the year ending 31 March 2020 will be another year of profit growth and development,” the company said in a trading statement.
WPP said it planned to sell 60% of its Kantar market-research business to US private equity company Bain Capital, valuing Kantar at $4bn. The advertising giant said it would retain around 60% of net proceeds to reduce debt, with the balance, around $1.2bn returned to shareholders.