London pre-open: Modest gains foreseen

4th Oct 2011 07:24

The stronger trend seen late in the session in London yesterday is set to continue this morning, despite stocks on Wall Street taking a caning last night.Sentiment has been boosted by further messages of support - even if they have yet to be backed up by more money - for Greece from Eurozone finance ministers, who met in Luxembourg yesterday to consider whether the debt-laden Mediterranean country should get its next slug of bail-out money. Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the Eurogroup finance minister committee, repeatedly made plain early on Tuesday that none of the eurozone countries was urging a Greek default and categorically denied that there was any question of Greece leaving the euro area, according to The Guardian.  City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open up 36 points from yesterday's close of 5,076. Resurgent plumbers' merchant Wolseley saw a 38% improvement in annual trading profit at £622m, ahead of the £610m predicted by broker Panmure Gordon. Profit before tax in the year to July 31st was £391m, versus a loss of £328m the year before, on revenue that grew 3% - or 5% on a like-for-like basis - to £13.56bn. UK integrated support services company Carillion said it expects full year earnings to show strong growth from last year, in line with market expectations, despite continuing challenging market conditions. Earnings growth in 2011 is being driven primarily by the acquisition of Carillion Energy Services and by an improvement in Carillion's total operating margin. Oil outfit Heritage Oil has gained a foothold in the Libyan oil and gas industry through the acquisition of a controlling 51% interest in Sahara Oil Services Holdings for cash consideration of $19.5 million.  --jh