London pre-open: Markets to rebound after hitting four-month lows

19th Nov 2012 07:24

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open up 50 points from Friday's close of 5,606, boosted by decent performances in both the US and Asia over the weekend. US President Barack Obama met with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders on Friday to discuss a deal that would negotiate a reduction to the deficit in a bid to avoid the 'fiscal cliff'. Lawmakers must come to an agreement in order to avoid $607bn in spending cuts and tax increases that, if not changed, will take effect on January 1st.Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said after the meeting on Friday: "We have the cornerstones of being able to work something out. We all know something has to be done?there 's no more 'Let's do it some other time'. We're going to do it now."This isn't something we're going to wait until the last day of December to get it done," Reid said. "We have a plan, we're going to move forward on it."The FTSE 100 sunk to its lowest level since July on Friday as rising tensions in the Middle East, Eurozone debt concerns and the worries about the impending 'fiscal cliff' in the US combined to dampen risk appetite. The Footsie finished just above 5,600, its lowest closing price since July 26th when it finished at 5,573. To be had in account, many institutional players will likely have squared their books last week already, ahead of the anticipated depressed trading volumes this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday Stateside. That could conceivably ease the selling pressure on equity markets worldwide. International economic announcements due out today include US Existing Home Sales. In company news, quality and safety testing group Intertek saw revenue growth slow down slightly in the third quarter though organic sales held up strong. Total reported revenues grew at a 20.1% rate in the 10 month to October 31st, down on the 29.9% growth seen in the first half (to June 30th). However, organic revenue growth at constant exchange rates (excluding acquisitions) was 9.1% during the period, only slightly down on the 9.9% rate in the first six months of the year.Siberian explorer RusPetro said increased oil production led to a jump in revenue in the third quarter. The firm said revenue rose 22% to $17.7m in the third quarter of 2012 compared to $14.6m in the preceding three months. It reached a production rate of 7,853 barrels of oil per day and said it was on track to hit the year-end target exit rate of 10,400 barrels.Temporary power and temperature control giant Aggreko has won a contract in Côte d'Ivoire to provide short-term power supply. The 10MW gas-fuelled temporary power contract, which will run for two years, is in addition to the 100MW the company installed in 2010. It is worth an estimated $75m and was awarded by the Société des Energies de Côte d'Ivoire (CI-ENERGIES). The firm said that the contract will reinforce the power supply in Cote d'Ivoire and fulfil the country's needs before the construction of permanent capacity.