London pre-open: Stocks to bounce back from heavy losses but trade war fears persist
London stocks were set for a positive open on Tuesday following heavy losses in the previous session on the back of trade war worries.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 19 points higher at 7,527 after suffering its worst day of losses since February on Monday amid escalating tensions between the US and China.
London Capital Group analyst Jasper Lawler said: "Despite a lower US & Asian trading session, European markets are seen advancing on Tuesday. With no change to fundamentals, there is little hope than this anything more than a mere dead cat bounce.
"As it starts to dawn on the market that this is not just another Trump tactic and the US President is in fact serious about initiating a damaging global trade war with potentially catastrophic economic consequences, traders are jumping out of risky assets and fast. With deteriorating US-Sino relations quickly approaching a point of no return, Wall Street tumbled lower following the trend set earlier in the day in Europe."
On the data front, BBA mortgage approvals are art 0930 BST.
In corporate news, Petrofac, a provider of services to the oil and gas industry, has taken $1.8bn of new orders since the start of the year, which is slightly more than at this stage last year.
However the FTSE 250 company's order backlog of $9.7bn was down from the £10.2bn at the end of December and the $13bn a year ago.
AstraZeneca has announced a series of board committee changes including appointing Nazneen Rahman as the chair of the drug company’s science committee.
Professor Rahman will become permanent chairman of the science committee on 1 July after chairing it on an interim basis since November.
Specialist building products supplier SIG has agreed to sell VJ Technology to UK private equity investment firm Primary Capital, it announced on Tuesday, following a competitive disposal process.
The company said VJ Technology is a UK distributor of technical fixings, fasteners and consumables to the infrastructure, commercial and wider construction industry, and part of SIG Distribution. Consideration from the sale was expected to be around £29.7m, resulting in a gain on sale of £7.4m, with the proceeds set to reduce net debt.