London pre-open: Stocks to nudge lower on weak Asian cues
London stocks looked set to nudge lower at the open on Monday, taking their cue from a negative session in Asia.
The FTSE 100 was expected to open six points lower at 7,403.
There are no major UK data releases due but in the US, new home sales are at 1500 GMT.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Brexit chatter is likely to act as a catalyst for movement in sterling this week amidst reports that the Irish government could prove to be an obstacle to moving Brexit talks forward, until the border issue has been settled. Unfortunately for them local political difficulties could result in the collapse of the government and new elections in the coming days, which could mean that the EU deadline for sorting out the Irish border issue might well slip."
In corporate news, Ultra Electronics has won a brace of contracts, one in the UK and one with Sweden's Saab, two weeks after the defence and security supplier issued a profit warning due to a slowdown in UK defence spending.
The FTSE 250 group's West London-based Communication & Integrated Systems arm has been awarded a £16.6m UK contract to "support the provision of advanced surveillance capability" until 2019.
AstraZeneca has submitted a supplemental new drug application to Japan's drug regulator for its Tagrisso to be given as a first-line treatment of patients with certain types of non-small cell lung cancer.
The Japan supplemental application is based on data from the Phase III Flaura trial, in which Tagrisso significantly improved progression-free survival compared to current first-line EGFR-TKIs, erlotinib or gefitinib, in previously-untreated patients with locally-advanced or metastatic forms of NSCLC.
LondonMetric has exchanged on the sale of an Odeon cinema in Derby and a retail asset in Guisborough for £18.6m.
The company said the sales reflect a 15% premium to the March 2017 valuation and are materially above the latest valuation.