London pre-open: Stocks to drop as attention shifts back to Brexit
London stocks were set for losses at the open on Tuesday as investors shift their attention back to Brexit.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 106 points lower at 7,040 ahead of the five days of parliamentary debates on the Brexit withdrawal, which are due to kick off later in the day.
Before that though, MPs will vote on whether the government broke Parliament's rules by failing to publish the full legal advice it received on the Brexit plan.
Market participants will also be eyeing Bank of England Governor Mark Carney's appearance in front of the Treasury Select Committee at 0915 GMT. He's expected to talk about the Brexit withdrawal deal and the UK's future economic relationship with the EU.
"In all of Mark Carney’s recent appearances, he has given stark warnings over the impact of Brexit and particularly no deal Brexit on the British economy," said London Capital Group analyst Jasper Lawler.
"The pound is looking battered after falling versus the dollar for four straight sessions and we don’t expect an uplifting tone from Carney. Whilst the information he gives is not expected to be new, it is almost certainly going to make an already jittery market more nervous."
On the data front, the construction PMI for November is due at 0930 GMT.
In corporate news, Ferguson reported an 8.5% rise in first quarter revenue as North American operations offset a fall in the UK.
Revenue rose to $5.5bn from $5.11bn. The company said ongoing trading profit rose 9.9% to $432m, adding that it expected to meet full year expectations.
Travis Perkins has lifted the lid on its new strategy, including improving returns in the general merchanting division, strengthening the performance of its Wickes chain and selling off its Plumbing & Heating division.
The FTSE 250 builders' merchant provided an overview of the new plan of "simplifying our business to improve returns" ahead of a capital markets day presentation given to investors and analysts later in the day.
Sage Group announced the appointment of Jonathan Howell to the role of chief financial officer, with effect from 10 December.
It said he would bring “significant experience” as a public company CFO, having most recently been group finance director of Close Brothers Group for 10 years, and prior to that, CFO of the London Stock Exchange Group. The company said that in addition, he had been a non-executive director and chairman of the audit and risk committee at Sage since 2013.