London pre-open: Stocks to edge down ahead of jobs data
London stocks looked set to edge down at the open on Tuesday ahead of the release of key jobs data and following strong gains in the previous session, when sterling took a tumble after Parliament speaker John Bercow blocked another vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
The FTSE 100 was called to open nine points lower at 7,290, with the pound regaining some poise, up 0.1% against the dollar and flat versus the euro.
Sterling slid on Monday after Bercow said there would no third meaningful vote unless there is substantial change to the Brexit deal. He cited a convention dating back to 1604 that a defeated motion could not be brought back in the same form during the course of a parliamentary session.
London Capital Group analyst Jasper Lawler said: "Without a workaround, Theresa May will have to go to Brussels to request an extension to Article 50 without a solid plan in place. This means a lengthy extension of around 20 months is most likely. A long extension increases the likelihood of Brexit not going ahead, which is supporting the pound.
"However almost two more years of uncertainty and postponed business decisions and investment will be extremely damaging to the UK economy, which is pound negative."
Away from Brexit, investors will be eyeing the release of average earnings, the ILO unemployment rate and the claimant count, all due at 0930 GMT.
In corporate news, Ocado's sales were barely dented by the huge fire at one of its robot-operated depots during the quarter.
The online grocery specialist reported 11.2% growth in the first 13 weeks of its new financial year to 3 March and said the fire at its Andover centre "has been a setback, but will be only a temporary one".
Mining giant Antofagasta reported that revenue for its full year was almost unchanged, of $4.73bn, thanks to a 6.3% decrease in the realised copper price being almost completely offset by higher copper sales volumes and higher molybdenum revenue.
The company said EBITDA in the year ended 31 December was $2.23bn - 13.9% lower than the previous year as unit costs increased due to grade declines and higher input costs. It declared a final dividend of 37 US cents per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 43.8 cents per share.
FTSE 250 IT infrastructure and services provider Softcat reported a jump in first-half profit and revenue as customer numbers grew and the company said full-year results will be "marginally" ahead of previous expectations.
In the six months to 31 January 2019, pre-tax profit increased to £33.9m from £24.1m the year before, on revenue of £434m, up 21% on the year.