London pre-open: Footsie on the back foot

5th Nov 2009 07:36

The blue-chip index is set to open in negative territory, following the weaker trend seen in the afternoon session on Wall Street and losses overnight on Asian markets. Traders expect the FTSE 100 to open around 42 points lower.The market has much to occupy itself ahead of the announcement later today of the Bank of England's decision on whether to extend its quantitative easing programme, with lots of major companies declaring results.Telecoms group Cable & Wireless has revived plans to split itself in to two parts. The announcement accompanied interim results that were much in line with market expectations, although full-year earnings guidance for C&W International was lowered, due to weaker trading conditions in the Caribbean.Food and household goods giant Unilever saw third quarter pre-tax profits drop by 43%, but volume growth of 3.6% came in better than expected. Pre-tax profits dropped to €1.42bn in the three month ended September compared with €2.50bn last year. Turnover was down 2% at €10.20bn.Non-life insurer RSA reported a 4% rise in net written premiums and said that while economic conditions remain challenging, it is now seeing some ‘encouraging signs’. Net written premiums for the nine months to 30 September were £5,028m, an increase of 4% over the same period in 2008, but down 1% at constant exchange rates.South African insurer Old Mutual’s third quarter has been much better than the first half of 2009, and the trend has continued into the fourth quarter thanks to the pick-up in the investment market.Energy supplier Centrica has entered into a further agreement with power station operator Drax Group which will provide Centrica with access to an additional 300 megawatts of baseload power. The agreement will run for five years.Hedge fund manager Man said funds under management at 30 September 2009 stood at $44bn, up from $43.3bn at the end of June. Profit before tax of $302m was 8% above the estimate made at the time of the company's pre-close statement.