London pre-open: Stocks to fall ahead of quiet session

14th May 2015 07:35

UK stocks are set to fall on Thursday with City sources predicting the FTSE 100 to open 18 points lower than Wednesday's close of 6,949.63.Global stock markets closed in a mixed fashion on Wednesday on the back of a conflicting economic data across the world: a raft of Chinese indicators disappointed, UK unemployment fell, Eurozone growth picked up, while US retail sales flatlined."This uncertainty looks set to continue into today's trading session with a lower open expected this morning," said Michael Hewson from CMC Markets."A combination of a higher euro and a rise in European bond yields is starting to unsettle stock market investors at a time when concerns about a US rate rise are starting to diminish," he said.Thursday is set to be relatively quiet in terms of economic data, with US jobless claims being the only major release.Initial claims for unemployment benefits in the States are forecast to have risen to 273,000 last week from 265,000 previously. Continuing claims are expected to rise to 2.233m from the 15-year low of 2.228m.Stocks to watchProperty development and investment giant British Land met forecasts with a small increase in profits in the year ended 31 March. The company, which owns London office and residential properties and a national retail portfolio, reported an underlying pre-tax profit of £313m, up 5.4% on the previous year. Diluted underlying earnings per share increased 4.1% to 30.6p, more or less in line with consensus estimates.ITV reported net advertising revenue ahead of guidance for the first quarter, as its staff staged a 24-hour strike over pay with a protest at the broadcaster's annual shareholder meeting. Although ITV's share of viewing continued to be down, total revenue in the three months to end March was up 14% as its production business returned to organic growth .