London pre-open: Stocks to fall ahead of busy day for data

5th Jun 2013 07:34

Ahead of a busy day on the economic data front, stocks are expected to open sharply lower on Wednesday, with City sources predicting that the FTSE 100 will open around 50 points lower from yesterday's close of 6,559."The European markets are expected to open lower once again this morning highlighting the substantial volatility evident within the markets currently," said Research Analyst Joshua Mahony from Alpari."The ability of Asian markets to rally has become increasingly crucial in understanding where the European markets will open in a move away from the usual dual linkage between the US and European markets."Japanese markets were volatile overnight and were trading firmly lower into the close as investors were underwhelmed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's barrage of new plans to boost economic growth. Sentiment was also dampened by a worse-than-expected slowdown in Australian economic growth in the first quarter.Closer to home, purchasing managers' indices (PMIs) are due out in the UK and Eurozone today, as well as growth figures from the euro area. However the focus is likely to be on data from the States as markets look for indications of how economic figures may influence the Federal Reserve's decision to 'taper' stimulus. All eyes will be on the ADP employment report today, which is usually seen as a rough indicator for what to expect from the official US non-farm payrolls report due out on Friday. Analysts are predicting that the economy added around 170,000 jobs in May.Tesco sees LFL sales slip...everywhereTesco could be under pressure this morning after the supermarket giant reported declining like-for-like sales across the board. Engineering and construction group Kentz Corporation has landed a contract in Alaska for the Point Thomson gas cycling and condensate production plant. It marks the company's largest US contract to date. The award, through subsidiary Kentz USA, will run for the next three years under the Technical Support Services business unit.Intermediate Capital Group (ICG), the FTSE 250-listed asset manager, is to close its real-estate debt fund ICG-Longbow Fund III at its maximum size of £700m. The fund is focused on newly originated first charge whole loans and mezzanine debt. MoneySupermarket.com underlined its confidence in future trading as it announced it will pay a special interim dividend of 12.92p per share. The group said its performance remains in line with company expectations and group revenues for the year to date are over 10% higher than the same period last year.BC