London pre-open: FTSE set for good start to the week

30th Jul 2012 07:35

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open up 26 points from Friday's close of 5,627, with the week set to get off to a positive start following the comments last week from European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi, who said the bank would do whatever necessary to rescue the euro. His comments were joined by pledges from both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Francois Hollande to keep the single currency safe. That aheaad of possibly critical contacts expected to take place today between US Treasury Timothy Geithner, the European Central Bank´s Mario Draghi and Germany´s Wolfgang Schaeuble.Last night the President of the Eurogroup, Jean Claude Juncker, indicated that it and the ECB are ready to act to support the Eurozone if necessary.Lending to individuals data for June are published at 9:30. The CBI Distributive Trades Survey for July is published at 11:00; consensus expects the reported sales balance to fall to 20, from 42 in June.Aviva and Weir may benefit from positive coverage in the papers over the weekend.Ratings agency Standard&Poor´s has reiterated its AAA view on Great Britain´s debt. Also very much worth noting, this week will see policy meetings from the ECB -set to take place on Thursday, with investors hoping for more stimulus action from the bank- as well as from the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve.   Electricity and gas provider National Grid says it achieved a 'solid operational and financial performance' in its first quarter and it keeping its positive outlook for the full year unchanged. Overall, there was no major changes to its financial position during the period between April 1st and July 29th. The firm says that it has a strong balance sheet, underpinned by regulatory revenue, which is "key to our ability to secure the required long-term funding for our businesses in both the UK and the US."Cillit Bang maker Reckitt Benckiser maintained its like-for-like sales growth in the second quarter of 2012. Net revenue in the first half of the year was £4,669m, up 1% year-on-year using actual exchange rates and up 4% on a constant exchange rates (CER) basis.FTSE 250 firm Gem Diamonds said it expected diamond prices to fall in the short term as the market continued to be volatile. In its first half update the company said May and June saw the first negative movements in its rough diamond market price indices, as prices dropped across the sector.