London pre-open: FTSE set for decent start to busy week

28th Apr 2014 07:42

UK stocks are set for a decent start ahead of what is expected to be a busy week, despite a less-than-impressive finish in the US on Friday and an uninspiring performance by Asia stocks overnight. City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around 20 points above Friday's close of 6,685.69.US stocks finished the Friday session noticeably lower as traders reacted to the negative news-flow out on Russia and took some money off the table ahead of the release of the latest monthly non-farm payrolls report and US Federal Reserve Policy meeting this week. Meanwhile, Japanese retail sales growth came in at a 17-year high in March as shoppers rushed to stores ahead of the planned increase in the national sales tax which began at the start of April.Sales rose at an annual rate of 11% last month, up from 3.6% the month before. This was highest rate of growth since March 1997 as consumers topped up on electronics, toiletries and clothes. As noted by Alpari Market Analyst Craig Erlam, Japan "received no boost" from the the figures: "Traders were already prepared for the 11% rise, compared with a year earlier, which was largely down to people making large last minute purchases before the sales tax hike, from 5% to 8%, on April 1st," he explained. "The April number, when released next month, will highlight this perfectly and is likely to be woeful, with spending drying up significantly following the spree in March." There was no significant developments in the Ukraine/Russia crisis over the weekend, although investors remain jittery over its potential impact on markets. Although the week ahead is set to be a busy one, today's session is expected to be notably quiet. "While the week ahead has plenty for investors to get their head around, including a large amount of economic data and companies reporting first quarter earnings, Monday is looking a little quieter," Erlam said. "With so little being released, trading volume may be lower than normal, especially with some major data coming later in the week. It wouldn't be unusual for traders to act with a little caution ahead of such a busy second half to the week."In this morning's company news, it was announced that BG Group's Chief Executive, Chris Finlayson, has resigned with immediate effect for "personal reasons". The group said that until a permanent replacement can be found, the company's Non-Executive Chairman, Andrew Gould, will takeover as Executive Chairman. Precious metals miner Randgold Resources has welcomed a new mining code in Côte d'Ivoire which it hopes will draw global investors and accelerate the country's emergence as a significant gold producer. The new mining code, which was developed by the government in close collaboration with the mining industry, covers areas such as exploration permits, tax incentives and nationality requirements.Trading systems developer Fidessa said it continues to see improvement in the trading conditions across the markets in which it operates. "Whilst a positive effect from this is expected for 2014, Fidessa's recurring revenue model has the effect that some of the impact from customer attrition in 2013 will flow through into 2014, and means that modest constant currency growth is expected in 2014," it said in a company statement.Over the weekend it was reported that within the past week Pfizer has revived its plans to acquire AstraZeneca and may make a public declaration of its interest this week, according to both Bloomberg and the Financial Times. People familiar with the matter told the latter that a bid could come in at over $100bn, versus the UK group's current market capitalisation of $86.6bn. NR