London pre-open: Stuck in neutral

5th Apr 2011 07:40

It is a big week for economic announcements and investors remain reluctant to commit themselves until they have heard from the central banks in the UK, US and continental Europe.The US Federal Reserve is due tonight to publish the minutes from the most recent meeting of its rate-setting committee while later in the week the Bank of England and the European Central Bank (ECB) will announce their decisions on their key lending rates. The ECB is widely expected to hike its key lending rate by a quarter of a point while the Bank of England is expected to stand pat.City traders expect the blue-chip share index to open barely changed.Company news from the heavy hitters is thin on the ground. Music and film retailer HMV is no longer a heavy hitter after a series of profit warnings and it has issued another one today. HMV continues to struggle against tough conditions on the high street and competition from supermarkets and digital downloads. It said it expects profits before tax for the full year to come in at £30m. In a trading update last month HMV predicted pre-tax profits would be "moderately below" market expectations of £45m.The London Stock Exchange is to sell Servizio Titoli, a provider of shareholder management services to listed companies in Italy, to Computershare for €30m. A further consideration, up to a maximum of €2.4m, may be payable on completed of the deal, which is expected in May.Advertising giant WPP is buying a minority stake in Canadian firm Vice Holdings, a global youth media brand that operates in more than 30 countries. ---jh