London pre-open: FTSE to make small gains ahead of Eurozone meeting

9th Jul 2012 07:27

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open up five points from Friday's close of 5,663, reflecting a degree of optimism ahead of today's meeting of the Eurozone's Finance Ministers. As well, at least some traders seem to be fixated on data out last night showing how China's annual consumer inflation cooled more expected to 2.2% in June, from May's 3.0%. That may be seen as giving Beijing more scope to ease monetary policy to support growth without stoking upward price pressures.The KPMG/REC job placements index for the UK fell in June to 46.8, down from 51 the previous month, prompting fresh fears that the UK's unemployment toll will hit 3m by the end of the year according to some media outlets. "A decrease in hiring activity means we could see a period of increased unemployment, especially as a new wave of school leavers and graduates will be entering the labour market over the summer," said REC chief executive Kevin Green.Also worth calling attention to may be what appear to be dovish comments out of two Fed Speakers overnight, Eric Rosengren from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and his peer, Charles Evans, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.Meanwhile, the German President, Joachim Gauck, has called on the country´s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to explain what she agreed to exactly at the past EU summit.Lastly, the euro/dollar will begin the week trading at two year lows. This as the academic Paul de Grauwe and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman (in an interview with Spanish daily ABC) have gone on record over the weekend as asking the European Central Bank to take decisive action in periphery bond markets. Power systems group Rolls-Royce has won a contract to service M250 engines for the US Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warrior scout helicopters. The contract, valued at $183m, involves the service of 500 M250 engines for more than 300 aircraft. It begins this month and the Army has the option to extend it for four additional years. This project is part of group's 'MissionCare' support systems for military customers - "a suite of services tailored to help each customer meet their mission."House builder Bovis Homes has had a strong first half to 2012, in line with expectations. For the six months ended 30 June 2012, the group legally completed 944 homes, compared to 801 homes in the same period in 2011, an increase of 18%. Bovis's average sales price increased by 1% year-on-year to £164,400, and would have increased by more had it not been for an increased proportion of legal completions from sites in the Midlands and up north, where prices tend to be lower.Michael Page, the FTSE 250 recruitment firm, said it had seen a tough first half and expects more of the same in the third quarter. The company reported a profit of £273.9m for the first half of the year, 0.4% below the same period in 2011. Profits from the UK and the Americas dragged the company down, falling 9.2% and 16% respectively in the second quarter. However, in the Asia Pacific region the firm saw profits rise 12.5% compared to the second quarter of 2011.