London pre-open: Stocks seen lower amid Brexit concerns
London stocks were set to edge down at the open on Thursday amid growing worries about Brexit.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 14 points lower at 7,100, having risen on Wednesday as the pound slumped on news that Prime Minister Boris Johnson was going to suspend parliament.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: “The calculation here would be that the Prime Minister is taking a high stakes gamble on forcing a vote of no confidence and daring MPs to push him towards calling a General election, when they return from recess next week.
“What appears to be being forgotten amongst all of the heat, light, and hysterical claims of a coup from yesterday’s events is that MPs still have two big levers they can pull to try and prevent a no deal Brexit from happening.
“One of them is the previously mentioned vote of no confidence, which could come as soon as next week, and the other lever is to revoke article 50, both of which MPs seem curiously reluctant to use.”
In corporate news, Micro Focus said weak sales had forced it to revise its revenue forecasts even lower and accelerate a review of the company.
The software maker said revenue on a constant currency basis for the year ending to October 31 would be 6% - 8% lower compared with previous guidance of a fall of 4% - 6%.
“Weak sales execution has been compounded by a deteriorating macro environment resulting in more conservatism and longer decision making cycles within our customer base,” the company said.
Imperial Leather maker PZ Cussons has agreed to sell its Greek food subsidiary Minerva and its Polish personal care brand Luksja.
Chief executive officer Alex Kanellis said: “The proposed sale of Minerva and Luksja forms part of PZ Cussons' new strategy to 'Focus, Scale and Accelerate', announced along with our final FY19 results on 23 July 2019.
“We are streamlining the group to focus investment on core personal care and beauty brands to deliver higher margin earnings, in geographies that can scale, with the aim of returning the group to sustainable, profitable growth.”
AstraZeneca announced that its phase 3 ‘TULIP 2’ trial for ‘anifrolumab’ - a potential new medicine for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) - met its primary endpoint, achieving a statistically-significant and clinically-meaningful reduction in disease activity compared to placebo, with both arms receiving standard of care.
The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals firm said the reduction was measured using the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group-based Composite Lupus Assessment (BICLA) at week 52. It said the BICLA required improvement in all organs with disease activity at baseline with no new flares, and added that the safety profile of anifrolumab was consistent with previous trials.