London pre-open: Stocks seen lower as Covid cases rise, Sino-US relations sour
London stocks were set to fall at the open on Thursday following a rise in new coronavirus cases as countries around the world begin to lift lockdown restrictions, and amid growing tensions between the US and China.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 24 points lower at 6,037.
CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "The World Health Organisation said the number of new coronavirus cases hit a daily record high this week - an easing of restrictions is believed to be the reason for the spike. Stocks in Asia are a little in the red, and European markets are expected to open lower. France and Germany have public holidays today, so volatility is likely to be low in the eurozone."
Meanwhile, relations between the US and China soured overnight, after the US Senate passed a bill that could ban some Chinese companies from listing on American exchanges.
In corporate news, pub and hotel operator Whitbread said it was raising £1bn in a rights issue to bolster its balance sheet against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic as it warned of a potential loss in 2021.
Adjusted profit before tax fell 8.2% to £358m as a result of weaker UK travel market conditions, particularly in the regions, high industry-wide inflation the start-up nature of German operations, the Premier Inn owner said.
EasyJet said it would begin to restart flying on 15 June with extra measures to reduce the risk of infection from Covid-19.
The budget airline said a small number of flights would restart on routes where there was enough demand to be profitable. The routes will mainly cover domestic flights in the UK and France.
AstraZeneca said that it is collaborating with a number of countries and organisations to make the University of Oxford's Covid-19 vaccine “widely accessible”, having concluded the first agreements for at least 400 million doses, and secured total manufacturing capacity for one billion doses so far, with first deliveries set to start in September.
The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said it was working on further agreements supported by several parallel supply chains, which would expand capacity in coming months to ensure the delivery of a globally accessible vaccine.
It also said it had received support of more than $1bn (£0.82bn) from the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority for the development, production and delivery of the vaccine, starting in the autumn.