London pre-open: Stocks set for muted open after mixed China data
London stocks were set for a muted open on Monday as investors digested some mixed Chinese economic data.
The FTSE 100 was called to open two points higher at 7,507.
Data out earlier showed that China's economy grew at its slowest pace in 27 years in the second quarter as the trade war with the US rumbles on. In the three months to June, the economy grew 6.2% from a year earlier compared to 6.4% in the first three months of the year, in line with economists’ forecasts.
Other data showed that industrial production rose 6.3% in June compared to a year earlier, while retail sales were up 9.8% year-on-year – both ahead of expectations. Economists had been expecting growth of 5.2% and 8.3%, respectively. Fixed asset investment for June came in at 5.8% growth versus 5.5% expected.
Meanwhile, relations between the US and China remained in focus.
CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "The trading relationship between the US and China is on the mend. Discussions where held over the phone, and they ‘went well’. Face-to-face trade talks were mentioned and the groundwork was laid for future meetings.
"The lack of negative news and the slight sense of optimism was also a factor the rally in US stocks. Given the US concerns about intellectual property protection, so the trade dispute is unlikely to be sorted out any time soon."
In corporate news, Sports Direct said it was delaying the publication of its preliminary results, which were due out this Thursday, to between 26 July and 23 August, with the guidance given in December possibly affected.
The company pinned the blame on "the complexities" of integrating the House of Fraser business it purchased last year and the current uncertainty over the future trading performance of this business. It also pointed to the "increased regulatory scrutiny" of auditors and audits including the FRC review of Grant Thornton's audit of its financial statements for the period to 29 April 2018.
Bank of Georgia said it had secured a GEL 28m (£7.4m) loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) so it could provide small and medium sized enterprises access to “increasingly demanded local currency funding”.
The loan agreement has a maturity of five years and would also support alignment with the European Union's Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement requirements, the bank added.
GlaxoSmithKline announced positive results from its ‘PRIMA’ phase 3 randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of ‘Zejula’ (niraparib) as a maintenance therapy in patients with first-line ovarian cancer following platinum-based chemotherapy.
The pharmaceuticals giant said the study met its primary endpoint of a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival for women regardless of their biomarker status. It said the safety and tolerability profile of niraparib was consistent with previous clinical trials.