London pre-open: Footsie to have another crack at 6,000

4th Feb 2011 07:31

The Footsie looks set to make another assault on the 6,000 barrier, with City traders predicting the blue-chip index will open on or around 6,000, having closed at 5,983 last night.Trade might be subdued, however, with the company results schedule a bit threadbare and with investors waiting on the January non-farm payrolls data from the US, due out this afternoon.Sales continue to surge ahead at component distributor Electrocomponents with an improvement of nearly a fifth over the past four months. Overall, sales grew by 19% in the period to January, as the International business grew by around 23% and the UK by around 11%.The US Food and Drug Administration has accepted the AstraZeneca's resubmission of a new drug application for its blood-thinning drug BRILINTA, and set a review date of 20 July. Dairy Crest, the company responsible for Cathedral cheese and Country Life butter, reckons full-year profits will be in line with expectations following a "strong" third quarter. In a statement for the nine months to 31 December, it said sales were "broadly unchanged" from last year when the contribution from the offloaded stake in Wexford Creamery is taken out.Power systems developer Rolls-Royce has signed a £20m contract to supply engines and propulsion equipment for four gas-fuelled ferries to be built for the Norwegian operator Torghatten Nord.