London pre-open: FTSE to edge lower in opening trade

21st Mar 2013 07:29

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open down four points from yesterday's close of 6,433, as investors digest recent events both in the UK and abroad. Of recent concern is the political instability in Australia as the country awaits a new prime minister.Closer to home, on today's agenda is the UK CBI industrial trends survey, public sector finances, and retail sales. In UK company news, defence firm QinetiQ has announced that its OptaSense distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) business has signed follow-on contracts with Shell. The contracts, which it says 'set a clear roadmap' for the provision of services over the next three years, include one for customer-funded product development, worth £10m.UK's largest water company United Utilities expects to report an increase in annual profits despite rises in depreciation and power. Ahead of results for the year ended March 31st 2013, the firm said it was trading in line with expectations as it "continues to drive improvements in customer service and operational effectiveness".Electronics components supplier Premier Farnell said that market conditions remain tough as it reported a three per cent decline in fourth quarter sales. Adjusted operating profit for the 13 weeks ended February 3rd fell 3.4% to £23.9m while total revenue fell to £239.3m after a weak performance from MDD Americas.