London pre-open: FTSE drops on poor Asian data

20th Sep 2012 07:37

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open down 25 points from yesterday's close of 5,888, hit by two lots of poor economic data from Asia. Acting as a backdrop, US stocks finished off their best levels of the day. Of interest, remarks by Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher to the effect that the current central bank program is not "QE-infinity."China´s manufacturing sector PMI for the month of September has come in at 47.8 overnight, after 47.6 in August, for its longest streak below the 50 point threshold -which indicates economic contraction - in eight years. As well, Japan's exports fell 5.8% year-on-year in August, for a third straight decline, on weakness in demand from the EU and China.To be had in account, this evening will see speeches from at least four "Fed speakers." Meantime, and in the Eurozone this morning, manufacturing and services PMI data is due out at 08:58.Investors will also be watching today´s Spanish Treasury debt auction. Back home, retail sales data for August are published at 9.30. Consensus expects both total sales and core sales to have fallen by 0.3% month-on-month, as the Olympics distracted households from their normal shopping pursuits, economists at Barclays Research are saying. The CBI Industrial Trends survey for September is released at 11.00 (Consensus: -15). In company news, Imperial Tobacco Group has said that the overall financial position and operational performance of the group in the year ended September 30th has been in line with its expectations. Tobacco net revenues are expected to be up by around four per cent with particularly good performances in its Eastern Europe, Africa & Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions. However, stick equivalent volumes are expected to decline by up to three per cent, the majority of which is due to ongoing market weakness in Ukraine and Poland and compliance with international trade sanctions against Syria. BSkyB has said it welcomes an announcement by Ofcom that Sky "remains a fit and proper holder of its broadcasting licences". The company issued a statement saying: "Ofcom is right to conclude that Sky is a fit and proper broadcaster. As a company, we are committed to high standards of governance and we take our regulatory obligations extremely seriously. As Ofcom acknowledges, our track record of compliance in broadcasting is good." Utility company United Utilities remains confident of delivering its 2010-15 regulatory out-performance targets after a solid start to the current financial year. Revenue in the year to the end of March 2013 should be higher than last year, but, as expected, the increase is slightly below the allowed regulated price rise, principally reflecting the ongoing impact of customers switching to meters and continued lower commercial volumes.