London pre-open: Little change expected on shortened Christmas Eve session

24th Dec 2014 07:43

Wednesday is set to be a quiet session on the stock market in London with traders knocking off early on Christmas Eve ahead of a four-day break.City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open more or less flat on Tuesday's close of 6,598.18.This was the index's highest finish since 8 December after six straight days of gains.Markets on the London Stock Exchange are scheduled to close early on Wednesday at 12:30, while indices across Europe will also be operating a shortened session.With no major economic data due out this side of the Atlantic, trading volumes are expected to stay low with few major movements anticipated."It's Christmas Eve and the human beings that drive European markets, even those programming the algorithms are turning their attention to subjects far-removed from the daily price swings," said analyst Jasper Lawler from CMC Markets UK.The only major datapoint of the day is the release of the US jobless claims figures for last week, though these are due out after UK markets close at 13:30. Claims are expected to have risen just 1,000 to 290,000 in the week ended 20 December.Stocks to watchReal estate group Intu Properties has bought the Puerto Venecia shopping centre and retail park in Zaragoza, Spain, for €451m. Intu's chief executive David Fischel said Puerto Venecia is "another great addition for the group" and "substantially accelerates our activities in Spain".Glencore revealed that it would go ahead with its share buyback in 2015, with up to £120m repurchased by 24 March at the latest. The company had been mulling over whether to continue with the buyback earlier in the month, having launched the £600m programme in August.