London pre-open: Stocks to edge up ahead of retail sales data
London stocks were set to edge up at the open on Thursday as investors continue to brush off trade tensions between the US and China and look ahead to the release of UK retail sales data.
The FTSE 100 was called to open six points higher at 7,337.
CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "Trade tensions have stepped up, but you wouldn’t know it to look at European and US equity markets. The $200bn worth of tariffs from Trump, and Beijing’s reaction weren’t exactly a surprise. Investors are cautiously optimistic as that round of tariffs weren’t too severe. Equities in Asia overnight were mixed as the mood isn’t particularly strong one way or another.
"The Trump administration and Beijing have hardened their positions, but as long as trading relations don’t take another sour turn, investors could remain upbeat."
Brexit was also likely to be in focus as Prime Minister Theresa May urged EU leaders at a dinner in Salzburg on Wednesday to focus on agreeing a deal in the next two months and drop their "unacceptable" demands. May told the EU's other 27 heads of government that the UK will leave on 29 March next year and that the onus was on all of them to get a deal done.
Meanwhile, a report overnight revealed an internal memo suggesting that May will be forced to stand down soon after March 2019. The dossier leaked to the Telegraph was said to have been widely circulated among Tory MPs, analysing the leadership of her cabinet colleagues and other contenders including Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg.
On the data front, retail sales figures for August are due at 0930 BST.
In corporate news, Diageo said its financial year has "started well", though it has been buffeted in recent weeks by increased emerging market foreign exchange volatility.
The drinks titan said that despite "increased volatility in some markets", it still expects organic net sales growth broadly in line with last year.
British American Tobacco’s chief executive Nicandro Durante will retire next April after eight years in charge of the cigarette company. BAT said it had identified a lead candidate to replace Durante and would announce his successor in due course.
Elsewhere, Inmarsat announced that it and Panasonic Avionics Corporation have agreed a strategic collaboration, for an initial 10-year period, that would enable them to combine their “highly complementary” services to offer broadband in-flight connectivity paired with high-value solutions and services to customers in the commercial aviation industry worldwide.
The FTSE 250 company said that under the terms of the agreement, Inmarsat would become Panasonic's exclusive provider of Ka-band IFC for commercial aviation, with Panasonic now able to offer Inmarsat's high-speed broadband connectivity service ‘GX Aviation’.