London pre-open: FTSE set for small fall following Thursday's gains

13th Apr 2012 07:25

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open down six points from yesterday's close of 5,710, easing slightly after yesterday's rally, with confidence taking a small knock following worse-than-expected GDP figures from China. The data revealed that the country's economy had grown at its slowest rate in nearly three years during the first quarter, giving rise to concern that action would be needed to prevent further slippage. The planned merger of commodities trader Glencore and miner Xstrata is taking longer than expected, as the pair seek to placate the authorities' monopoly concerns. The companies continue to expect to receive all relevant approvals to enable completion of the merger in the third quarter of 2012, as previously announced, but documentation relating to the merger is now anticipated to be distributed to each company's shareholders by the end of May 2012 instead of in April, as originally announced. Oil and gas firm Premier Oil is to plug and abandon the Biawak Besar-1x exploration well in Indonesia. The group said the drilling logs showed better than expected sand quality, but the sands were water wet. Burkina Faso-focused gold miner Avocet Mining says it may have to construct a new process plant at its Inata project, rather than just extend the existing plant, in order to provide more processing flexibility. The company is still undergoing tests but expects to enter construction in late 2012 and commissioning and first gold in late 2013.