London pre-open: Stocks seen higher ahead of US election
London stocks were set to rise at the open on Tuesday following upbeat sessions on Wall Street and in Asia, as US voters head to the polls.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 51 points higher at 5,706.
CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "The last few weeks there has been a huge amount of back and forth with respect to the proposed US stimulus package - which never materialised. The US presidential election is today and the outcome will most likely have a huge impact on the scale of the scheme, and its timing.
"It is possible that equity traders were keen to square up their books before voting took place. The election will be at the forefront of traders’ minds today, so it is likely that volatility in the markets will be low, akin to what is seen on a US non-farm payrolls session."
In UK corporate news, full-year profits at Associated British Foods fell by 40% as store closures at its Primark clothing chain due to the coronavirus pandemic offset better performances at its sugar and food ingredients units.
The conglomerate reported pre-tax profits of £810m compared with £1.2bn a year ago on a 12% fall in revenue of £13.9bn. No dividend was declared.
"So far Covid-19 has cost the group some £2bn of sales, £650m in lost profit and a cash outflow of £800m," ABF said.
Weir Group reported an 11% drop in continuing orders for the third quarter, but said that demand had strengthened towards the end of the period while longer-term bid activity was improving "reflecting positive fundamentals for mining".
Orders in the Minerals division were stronger, with the company posting a 5% decline in underlying terms, a performance which the company said was supported by "robust" mining demand. Orders at the firm's ESCO division meanwhile were down by 24% from the year earlier period. Activity levels in Minerals were expected to remain robust throughout the remainder of 2020.
The same was true of the outlook for ESCO's mining end markets, but for ESCO's infrastructure business, the company said that "the pace of further recovery will be modest and dependent on the level of future Covid-19 restrictions, which remain uncertain."