London pre-open: Stocks off the boil

15th Jun 2011 07:41

After yesterday's strong showing London's blue-chips look set to start the day in more subdued mood, with City traders suggesting the Footsie will open around a dozen or so points down from last night's close.Supermarket group Sainsbury saw like-for-like (LFL) sales growth in line with management's expectations in the 12 weeks to 11 June, though the growth rate was below some brokers' estimates. "Fuel price inflation combined with strong fuel volume growth resulted in an increase in total sales of 7.3%, with like-for-like sales up 4.8%. Excluding fuel, total sales were up 4.3%, with like-for-like sales up 1.9%," chief executive Justin King revealed.In a brief statement in response to press speculation, commodities trader Glencore International has stated it is not actively considering an offer for Kazakh mining company Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC).Mining giant Rio Tinto is speeding up the expansion of its iron ore operations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is pumping in US$676m (£412m) to achieve capacity expansion to 333m tonnes a year in the first half of 2015, six months earlier than planned. --jh