London pre-open: Tentative start expected as markets wait for Fed meeting

19th Jun 2013 07:25

Stocks are expected to open with only small gains on Wednesday morning as nervous investors refrain from building positions ahead of the Federal Reserve policy announcement after the market-close this evening.City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open up just eight points from yesterday's close of 6,374. In spite of the cautious mood, benchmarks on Wall Street finished nearly 1.0% higher last night. "We're definitely seeing a case here of investors in the US buying on expectations that the Fed will maintain its $85bn per month of asset purchases and [Chairman] Ben Bernanke will ease concerns over tapering in the near term," said Market Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.Stocks to watchProcessor technology group Imagination Technologies saw annual revenues grow by a fifth after a better-than-expected increase in unit shipments, though profits more than halved after a jump in opex and continuing struggles at its loss-making radio division, Pure. Group revenue totalled £151.5m in the year to April 30th, up 19% from £127.5m the year before. This included £8.2m from the acquisition of MIPS Technologies in February, which "significantly strengthens" the group's presence in the processor and central processing unit intellectual property market. AstraZeneca has completed the fourth phase of its clinical trial of diabetes treatment, Onglyza. Data from the SAVOR-TIMI-53 (Saxagliptin Assessment of Vascular Outcomes Recorded in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus) clinical trial is being analysed and will be submitted to the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) for potential presentation at the ESC Congress in September. The study assessed adult patients with type 2 diabetes with either a history of established cardiovascular disease or multiple risk factors.FTSE 250 house building company Berkeley Group reported a 26% hike in annual pre-tax profit and issued a further interim dividend following strong demand in London and the South of England. Pre-tax profit rose to £270.7m in the year ended April 30th from £214.8m in 2012. Group revenue rose to £1.4bn during the year from £1.04bn previously.BC