London pre-open: Investors hold out for today's ECB announcement

29th Feb 2012 07:31

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open up five points from yesterday's close of 5,928, as investors hold out for the result of the European Central Bank's second longer term refinancing operation, to be announced later today. Consensus expectations are for bank bids worth €470bn in liquidity, with some analysts suggesting that anything over €400bn could elicit a positive reaction from equity markets. Also on tap, at 9:45am Bank of England (BoE) Governor King, Deputy Governors Charles Bean and Paul Tucker and external MPC member Adam Posen will appear before the Treasury Committee. Annual reports from Messrs Bean, Tucker and Posen will be published. In a speech last night BoE Deputy Governor for Financial Stability and MPC member Paul Tucker said that easing regulatory constraints on banks in order to encourage lending and assist the economic recovery would be counterproductive.GfK's consumer confidence index for the month of February remained unchanged, at-29 points (Consensus: -27).At 09:30am the BoE will publish its latest money and credit data for the month of January. Support services and construction group Interserve managed to increase profit despite tough conditions in construction markets in 2011. Gross revenue, which includes the company's share of associates and joint ventures, rose 0.2% to £2,430m in 2011 from £3,215m the year before. Consolidated revenue eased, however, to £1,847.5m from £1,872.0m in 2010, and was a little shy of market consensus forecasts of £1,852.5m.British Airways and Iberia owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) reported a five-fold increase in pre-tax profit in the year ended December 31st. Pre-tax profit surged 499% from €84m to €503m, on revenues that grew 10.4% from €14,798 to €16,339m, despite a €317m adverse currency impact. The performance was boosted by net cost and revenue synergies worth €74m, €64m more than its target, in the first year since the merger.Asia-focused banking colossus Standard Chartered notched up its ninth successive year of record income and profit in 2011. Profit before tax was up 11% to $6,775m in 2011 from $6,122m in 2010. Interest income rose to $16,584m from $13,500m the year before, while non-interest income slipped to $7,474m from $7,592m in 2010.