London pre-open: Stocks to rise on upbeat Wall Street cues
London stocks were set for a firmer open on Thursday, taking their cue from solid gains on Wall Street.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 20 points higher at 7,732.
London Capital Group analyst Jasper Lawler said: "Tech stocks managed to put in another impressive performance despite Brussels preparing to slap a fine on Google parent Alphabet, for abusing its dominance through the Android operating system. Whilst traded volume in Alphabet was over 7 times greater than Tuesday, the share price showed impressive resistance falling just 0.2%. Clearly investors aren’t overly concerned about the most significant regulatory move against Google’s business model.
"Risk on in Wall Street, transferred to a solid session in Asia and is seen lifting European markets into the opening bell. Despite talks of retaliation measures from US allies on trade tariffs, which in the words of the World Bank, risks sending the global economy back to a state similar to that 10 years ago, global equity markets continue bounding higher."
On the data front, Halifax house prices are at 0830 BST.
In corporate news, Auto Trader pulled up slightly short of the bumper with full year growth that missed City analyst expectations as fewer used cars come on the market.
Revenue rose 7% to £330.1m and profit before tax up 10% to £210.8m, both a little shy of consensus forecasts, though a proposed final dividend of 4.0p per share lifts the year's total to 5.9p, which was better than expected.
Intertek has acquired UK and Malaysia-based network security and assurance services provider, NTA Monitor, for an undisclosed sum.
The company said the deal will build its presence in the UK security assurance and certification space, one of the largest cyber security markets in the world, while strengthening and enlarging its current footprint in the global network assurance and cyber security certification market.
Elsewhere, NewRiver said it had bought Grays Shopping Centre in Essex for £20.2m.
The acquisition comprises a community shopping centre with 177,300 sq ft of retail space and a 32,000 sq ft office building with permitted development rights for residential conversion, on a 4.7 acre site, the company said.
Kier Group announced the establishment of a joint venture with Homes England and Cross Keys Homes on Thursday, to develop around 5,400 homes across the country over the next ten years.
The company said the venture would develop housing with a mix of tenures, and would enable it to accelerate the development of its residential land bank through a capital efficient model. Kier said it would receive £27m in respect of its initial contribution of four development sites, which would be financed by a loan to the joint venture from Homes England.