London pre-open: Bright start expected

24th Mar 2010 07:38

Footsie is expected to inch higher following strength on Wall Street late yesterday.Growth in sales of non-food items such as clothes and household items helped supermarket operator J Sainsbury post a healthy rise in like-for-like sales in the 11 weeks to March 20. Like-for-like sales - a measure that excludes the impact of new openings - rose by 4.8% compared with the same period a year ago, or by 1.7% excluding fuel.BG Group has confirmed a $40bn long-term deal to supply China with liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its coal seam deposits in Australia. The contract with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, (CNOOC) involves the shipment of 3.6m tonnes per annum of LNG over a 20-year period.Weak demand and lower prices hammered profits at Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) last year, but the Kazakhstan-based miner said things improved in the second half and it remains upbeat about 2010. Profit before tax tumbled 62% to $1.44bn, net profit attributable to shareholders was down 60% to $1.05bn and underlying EBITDA fell 65% to $1.46bn on revenue off 44% to $3.83bn.