London pre-open: Gains expected on hopes over Chinese growth

23rd Jul 2013 07:30

Stocks are expected to advance on Tuesday morning, bouncing strongly after moderate falls the day before, tracking Asian markets higher overnight on hopes over growth in China.City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open up 28 points from yesterday's close of 6,623.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang assured that economic growth would not fall below the bottom line this year of 7.0%. He called for the government to allow China to grow within a "reasonable range", keeping activity above a "lower limit" and inflation below the "upper limit".Disappointing figures from the US yesterday, where existing-home sales unexpectedly fell in June, also spurred speculation that the Federal Reserve would not rush to withdraw its stimulus measures. Stocks to watch Tullow Oil has plugged and abandoned an exploration well offshore Mozambique and another in French Guiana, an update on Tuesday morning has shown. The Cachalote-1 well, the first well in Area 2 offshore Mozambique, did discover a good quality gas-bearing sandstones in an Upper Cretaceous deepwater channel system, but initial tests show that is "unlikely to be commercial on a standalone basis". Meanwhile, the GM-ES-4 well on the Guyana Maritime licence, French Guiana, found no indications of hydrocarbons in both the primary and secondary reservoir objectives of the Cebus prospect. Croda International reported a 6.3% year-on-year rise in pre-tax profit to £133.1m for the first half, driven by sales of industrial chemicals. The chemicals company achieved an 8.3% rise in earnings per share to 68.1p for the first six months of the year, despite a challenging trading environment in Europe. BC