London pre-open: Asia data to help drive FTSE higher

9th Jun 2014 07:40

Positive data from Asia and last week's strong US jobs figure are expected to send UK stocks into positive territory this morning. City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around 11 points higher than Friday's close of 6,858.21.In Asia, China reported a trade surplus of just under $36bn for May, its highest since January 2009. Exports were up 7%, although imports dropped 1.6%. As Alpari Market Analyst Craig Erlam explained, "the clear positive here comes from the boost in exports, with the numbers potentially being less impacted by the distortions in the figures at the start of last year". He added: "What we may finally be seeing again is real (or as real as it gets for now) export figures for China. Of course the imports component of the data is still a concern which is probably why investors haven't exactly got carried away with the data." Meanwhile, consumer confidence in Japan improved in May for the first time in 2014, while economic growth for the first quarter was revised higher. An increase in consumer confidence - albeit still at depressed levels - suggests that the negative impact from an increase in the national sales tax may not be as bad as feared.The confidence index from the Cabinet Office showed a reading of 39.3 for last month, up 2.3 points on April and the highest mark since January.Over in the States, figures out Friday revealed that employers added 217,000 new jobs in May, compared to a revised 282,000 a month earlier, according to the Labor Department, surprising analysts who had forecast 215,000.The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.3%, slightly lower than the 6.4% that was predicted by the market. Back in the UK, a survey out this morning showed that a shortage of exporters is threatening to derail the UK's economic recovery.Fewer than a fifth of UK businesses export their goods and only 5% plan to invest in overseas trading in the coming months, according to a poll by Bibby Financial Services (BFS).The survey of 1,000 businesses turning over up to £25m reveals that only 16% currently export and just 17% import goods. The figures follow official data on Friday showing that Britain's trade deficit widened in April to its largest since November.In this morning's company news, Lloyds Banking Group has confirmed the price range for the initial public offering (IPO) of TSB, which has been set at between 220p to 290p per ordinary share. The expected offering size is 125m ordinary shares, representing 25% of TSB's existing ordinary shares in issue, Lloyds said in a company statement.Carillion's 50/50 joint venture (JV) with Lafarge Tarmac has been selected as one of the contractors on the Midlands Highway Alliance framework. The value of the framework to the JV is £100m across a three-year period, with the option to extend it by a further year to June 2018.In a move to expand in the US and diversify its product offering, hedge fund manager Man Group has bought credit-focused Pine Grove Asset Management. Pine Grove, which has around $1bn of assets under management, has been purchased for an undisclosed amount.Looking at the wider picture for today, Erlam continued: "The European session is shaping up to be a rather quiet one today. A combination of bank holiday's in France and Germany, and a lack of economic data providing any kind of catalyst, may result in yet another low volume day. "That said, traders were given a lot of information last week and we may see a case of this still being fully priced in today. Not to mention, the removal of so much uncertainty following last week's ECB decision and Friday's jobs report should help volatility and volume levels over the coming weeks."NR