London pre-open: FTSE to have devilishly good start
London stocks were expected to claw back some ground on Halloween Wednesday, on the back of enchanting sessions in Asia and on Wall Street.
Traders were calling the FTSE 100 index 65 points higher after the benchmark finished at 7,035.85 a day earlier.
"It may have been a horrifying month for investors but a strong session in the US and Asia overnight could see it end on a less frightening note and even send us into November feeling a little less gloomy," said Craig Erlam, market analyst at Oanda.
"October has well and truly lived up to its chilling reputation, with stock markets around the globe suffering one of their worst months in recent memory. It’s been a wild ride for investors and there is no guarantee it’s over yet," he added, with volatile conditions still not easing and anxiety still evident in the markets.
"European stocks are expected to open well in the green on Wednesday but as we’ve seen recently, investor sentiment can quickly turn and those gains wiped out. I think there’s a few more scares to come before things settle down."
In UK corporate news, Next reported a 2% increase in full price sales in the third quarter, in line with expectations. With store sales down 8% but online sales up 12.7%, this dragged down total year-to-date sales to 3.7%.
Packaging and paper specialist Smurfit Kappa Group agreed to acquire a paper mill and corrugated plant in Belgrade for a consideration of €133m from Kappa Star Group. The FTSE 100 group also updated the market on its trading, reporting 7% growth in group underlying revenue for the nine months ended 30 September, and a 27% improvement in group pre-exceptional EBITDA to €1.13bn (£1.01bn).
Great Portland Estates said on Wednesday that one of its joint ventures, the GHS Limited Partnership, has completed the land buyback from Transport for London at its Hanover Square development. Following completion of the Elizabeth line's new ticket hall structure at Bond Street East station, GHS acquired the site through the grant of two new 150-year leases, and entered into a development agreement with TfL to enable completion of the construction of the over-station development at 18 Hanover Square, anticipated in the third quarter of 2020.
William Hill has made an offer of 2.8bn (£240m) Swedish krone for Mr Green, a 48% premium to yesterday's share price.