London pre-open: Shares to track US and Asia bourses higher

13th Jun 2012 07:31

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open up 16 points from yesterday's close of 5,474, tracking US and Asian stocks higher as stocks recover from the news that Spanish bond yields reached their highest level since the creation of the euro currency. The keenly awaited trading update for supermarket group Sainsbury proved a bit anti-climactic with like-for-like (LFL) sales growth below expectations. LFL sales in the 12 weeks to June 9th were up 1.4% on the corresponding period of last year, below market expectations of growth of between 1.6% and 2.0%. Total sales for what is the first quarter of the supermarket chain's first quarter were up 3.6% year-on-year, or 3.8% excluding fuel. Scottish oil and gas giant Cairn Energy is to make an agreed takeover of North Sea oil producer Nautical Petroleum. Cairn is offering 450p per share in a deal which values Nautical at around £414m. The terms represent a 51.1% premium to the closing price of Nautical on the trading day prior to the announcement of the bid.Advertising and media conglomerate WPP has bought a majority stake in Mumbai based Hungama Digital Services for an undisclosed sum. Hungama Digital Services is part of Hungama Digital Entertainment and specialises in marketing strategies, web design, digital marketing, search engine marketing, social media optimisation and communications strategy.