London pre-open: Quiet start expected for the Footsie

13th Aug 2012 07:20

London's benchmark index is expected to open a little lower on Monday morning in the absence of any new developments over the weekend.City sources are predicting that the FTSE 100 will open around eight points lower from Friday's close of 5,847."A quiet start to the trading week is expected today with the calendar fairly light on the data front as London markets wake up from an Olympic closing ceremony hangover," said senior market analyst Michael Hewson from CMC Markets UK. "The lull is expected to be short lived, in a week fairly full of some important economic data from both sides of the Atlantic, while Italian and Spanish bond yields appear to be starting to edge higher again with the post ECB Draghi effect starting to taper off," he said.In company news, BP's grand garage sale continues with the integrated oil giant announcing the sale of its Sunray and Hemphill gas processing plants in Texas. Eagle Rock Energy Partners is paying $227.5m in cash for the plants, together with the plants' associated gas gathering system.Oil and gas services group Petrofac reported a strong first half driven by growth across all its markets. The company stuck with its prediction of full-year net profit growth of at least 15% in 2012.WPP, the media and advertising giant led by frontman Sir Martin Sorrell, wants to buy up the remaining stake in Turkish agency Manajans Thompson Reklam Isleri. The acquisition, subject to regulatory approval, will see WPP increase its current minority interest - held since 1985 - to 100% following completion. The purchase will be made through WPP's wholly-owned marketing communications division JWT. BC