London pre-open: stocks tipped to open flat after Fed minutes

20th Aug 2015 07:16

(ShareCast News) - City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open two points higher than Wednesday's close of 6,403.45.European equities are set to open flat as traders wrestle to price in a dovish Federal Open Market Committee statement and further overnight declines in Asia, London Capital Group night dealer Jonathan Sudaria said."Janet Yellen and the rest of the hawks on the FOMC always seemed at odds with the with the man in the street and yesterday's weak US inflation figures backed up the feeling that the US economy really isn't in a state to weather an interest rate hike."Sudaria said while a dovish Fed should be a bullish cue, the underlying reasons for low inflation are keeping a lid on traders' optimism.Stocks to watchRank Group posted a 19% rise in pre-tax profit for the 12 months ended 30 June, with a significant improvement across all the company's brands. The bingo club and casino operator said pre-tax profit came in at £74.1m from £62.5m the previous year, while revenue was up 4% to £738.3m. Adjusted earnings per share rose 18% to 14.6p and the interim dividend was lifted by 24% to 5.60p.Aerospace engineer Meggitt has won a $39.8m contract from the US-based Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to replace fuel cells in the legacy Hornet fighter jet. The three-year production contract, which ends in late 2018, will see first deliveries in the last quarter of this year.In the pressBerlin is expecting to receive a record 800,000 asylum seekers this year, more than the entire EU combined in 2014, laying bare the size of the biggest refugee crisis to face the continent since the second world war. If the official projection released yesterday is borne out, it would be nearly twice as high as Germany's previous record for asylum claims, set during the collapse of Yugoslaviain 1992. - The Financial TimesGVC Holdings is prepared to increase its offer for Bwin.party to at least 130p a share - or nearly £1.1 billion - in a final push to secure a takeover of its online gambling rival. The Times understands that the Sportingbet owner, whose present cash-and-shares offer is worth 124p, is ready to raise the stakes for a second time to ensure that it defeats 888 Holdings, its rival in the auction. Global oil prices were hammered to their lowest level in more than six years yesterday amid mounting evidence of a US supply glut and fears of a slowdown in China and other energy-hungry emerging economies. The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark US contract, plunged by 4 per cent to $40.60, its lowest since March 2009. - The Times