London pre-open: Footsie seen lower after S&P move

16th Jan 2012 07:25

London's benchmark index is expected to open slightly lower on Monday morning, tracking losses on Asian markets overnight, with Eurozone concerns in focus following the mass downgrade of several nations by S&P over the weekend.The FTSE 100 index is seen opening at around 5,627, 10 points lower than Friday's close of 5,637.Ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Friday evening cut the ratings of nine Eurozone countries, including the triple-A-rated nations of France and Austria. France, Austria, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia were cut by one notch, while Italy, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus were downgraded by two notches to junk status.In company news, Carnival, the FTSE 100 company which owns the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship which grounded off the coast of Italy at the weekend, says the cost of not having the boat in service will be between $85m and $95m. The death toll from the damaged ship rose to six on Monday morning, as bodies continue to be recovered from the luxury liner, which hit rocks off the island of Giglio in the Mediterranean on Friday evening. FTSE 250 house builder Bovis Homes says it expects pre-tax profits for the year ended 31 December 2011 to be in line with market consensus and says that it is well positioned to improve returns further in 2012 and beyond. Home completions totalled 2,045 last year, an 8% increase on the 1,901 the year before. Meanwhile, average sales price rose from £160,700 to £162,400. The 2011 housing gross margin should be at least 20%, the group said, up from 17.9% in 2010.Infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty has been awarded several construction contracts in the commercial sector worth £100m. A £18m contract has been awarded in Glasgow by Land Securities to build a five-storey residential and retail scheme in the city centre. The company has also won a £57m two-phase contract to construct AXA Real Estate's 60-office development in London and a £25m contract to build an 11-storey office in London's financial centre for Viridis Real Estate Services.