London pre-open: FTSE to extend Friday's gains

11th Nov 2013 07:30

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around 28 points higher than Friday's close of 6,708.42, extending gains seen at the end of last week's session. US markets delivered a strong performance on Friday despite a better-than-expected jobs report increasing speculation surrounding the tapering of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve.The Dow Jones Industrial Average set a fresh all-time high of 15,761.78, up 1.1% on the day, as investors showed optimism that the economic recovery may be resilient enough to withstand a reduction in stimulus. The S&P 500, up 1.4%, reached 1,770.61, coming within just two points of its record close.The Labor Department revealed that the US economy added 204,000 non-farm payrolls last month, ahead of a revised 163,000 increase the month before. This was well above the 120,000 expected by the consensus of analysts. On this side of the Pond it is set to be a fairly quiet day, with investors awaiting Wednesday's quarterly Inflation Report from the Bank of England. It is possible that the Monetary Policy Committee will decide to modify its macroeconomic projections, which might set the stage for bringing forward the expected date of its first rate hike.In today's company news, BG Group has sold its stake in the Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) project in Australia for 1.93bn dollars to China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). CNOOC has also reimbursed BG for project expenditure in line with its increased interests incurred from January 1st 2012 to September 30th 2013.Shire has approved plans to acquire ViroPharma for $50 a share, in what it described as a "strategic move" to strengthen its rare disease portfolio. The company will pay a total of $4.2bn for the rare disease biopharmaceutical firm, which Shire said was an "excellent strategic fit" for the group.FTSE 250 house builder Redrow said it continued to make progress in the first 19 weeks of the current financial year, as trading was buoyed by the increased availability of first time buyer mortgages, a slight increase in house prices and as it boosted the number of London sales. The average selling price of private reservations in the year to date rose 11% from the same period last year, at £271,000.Retail property group Hammerson said it is on course to hit earnings guidance after seeing "signs of recovery" in the third quarter. The firm, which owns 20 shopping centres across the UK and France, said that occupancy was 97.1% by September 30th, down from 97.4% at the end of the first half but still above its target of 97%.NR