London pre-open: Stocks seen lower on downbeat US, Asian cues
London stocks were set for a weaker open on Wednesday, taking their cue from downbeat sessions in the US and Asia.
The FTSE 100 was expected to open down 53 points at 7,325.
CMC Markets' Michael Hewson said: "After the S&P500 posted its biggest one day fall since last October last year the question being asked is whether the scales are starting to fall away from investor’s eyes as to whether President Trump will be able to deliver anything close to what has been priced into markets since his election last November.
"Even the mistiest eyed optimist appears to be coming to the realisation that even on healthcare where there is some form of consensus, that reforms are likely to take a lot longer than realised and as such any other programmes like tax and banking reform and infrastructure spending are likely to get pushed further out into the future."
In corporate news, annual results from retailer Kingfisher beat the City's profit forecasts thanks to strong growth from its Screwfix chain.
Adjusted sales in the year to 31 January rose 8.7% to £11.2bn, helped by currency effects, with underlying pre-tax profit up 6% to £787m, versus a consensus estimate of £775m.
International real estate advisor Savills announced record results, with group revenue up 13% to £1.45bn.
The FTSE 250 company said underlying profit was up 12% to £135.8m, or £126.8m in constant currency, while group profit before tax improved 1% to £99.8m.
Housebuilder Redrow said its trading performance continues to be robust and it expects pre-tax profit for the year to the end of June 2017 to rise 22% from the prior year.
The company highlighted a record order book and a further jump in legal completions, as well as better-than-expected increases in average selling prices.
IT infrastructure provider Softcat said interim pre-tax profits rose to £20.9m from £15.4m on the back of a 28.9% jump in revenues to £378.5m thanks to double-digit growth in software, hardware and services.
Gross profits were up 14% to £61.3m. The interim dividend was lifted 70% to 2.9p a share as the company said it was confident of meeting expectations for the full year.
Marine engineer James Fisher & Sons has bought wind turbine installer Rotos360 for up to £6.5m.
The company paid £1.5m in cash upfront and will pay a further £5m depending on Rotos360 achieving certain profit targets until the end of 2019.