London pre-open: Stocks seen higher as FOMC meeting looms

15th Dec 2015 07:30

(ShareCast News) - London stocks are set to open higher, rebounding from the previous session's oil-led losses following a positive session on Wall Street.The FTSE 100 is expected to open 60 points higher than Monday's close at 5,934.On the data front, the UK consumer price index is at 0930 GMT along with the producer price index.In the US, CPI and Empire manufacturing are at 1330 GMT, while the NAHB housing market index is at 1500 GMT.More broadly, investors will be eyeing the first day of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting."While financial markets have come to the conclusion that a rate hike this week is a done deal, this last meeting of 2015 is likely to be a particularly heated one, and unanimity is likely to be quite difficult to achieve, which means tomorrow's decision is likely to see some significant fallout whatever happens, which means we shouldn't rule out a surprise 'hold', even if it seems a remote possibility," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. Rio Tinto gets boost from MongoliaRio Tinto's Oyu Tolgoi expansion project received a boost on Tuesday when a syndicate of banks and international governments agreed $4.4bn (£2.9bn) in loans.The copper and gold mine in Mongolia was held up by a dispute between the government and Rio, with loan commitments expiring in 2014. Export credit agencies representing the governments of the United States, Canada and Australia, along with 15 commercial banks form the syndicate of lenders.Petrofac's Engineering, Construction, Operations & Maintenance (ECOM) division has already logged orders of $8.8bn (£5.8bn) for the year.The company released a trading update on Tuesday ahead of its full year results due out in February next year.Backlog in the division stood at record levels of US$18.5bn on 30 November 2015 and the company said operationally, its portfolio continues to perform in line with expectations.Aveva Group and US suitor US giant Schneider Electric have terminated takeover talks after the pair were unable to reach agreement.The engineering software group said that during the due diligence process, the two companies identified "significant integration challenges" that they did not feel could be overcome without considerable additional risk and cost.As a result, it was decided that the combination would be unlikely to deliver the anticipated uplift in shareholder value.