London pre-open: Slight falls expected

18th Jul 2011 07:41

Stocks look set to start the week lower on a fairly quiet day on the company news front.Commodity trading house Glencore is adding to its metal assets in Peru with the purchase of a 70% stake in Marcobre, which owns the Marcona Copper property and the Mina Justa exploration and development project, for $475m (£295m).Global engineering giant GKN is looking to expand its Land Systems division after announcing that it is to acquire engineer Stromag for €164m (£146m).Staffing company SThree posted a rise in profits in the six months to May 29 as market conditions improved. Pre-tax profits climbed to £11.2m from £7.3m over the same period the previous year, while revenues rose to £254.9m from £221.7m.