London pre-open: Stocks to drop amid Turkey contagion fears
London stocks were set for a downbeat open on Monday amid growing concerns about the crisis in Turkey and the potential for contagion.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 37 points lower at 7,630.
London Capital Group analyst Jasper Lawler said: "Recent sessions have been a stark reminder that trading in August is not for the faint hearted. With the US and Europe on summer holidays, liquidity can be light making big swings more likely.
"The panic that engulfed the markets at the end of last week is showing no signs of going anywhere at the start of the new week. Traders were met with a sea of red as indices dived across the Asian session; investors shunned riskier assets overnight while safer havens such as the Japanese yen and Swiss Franc firmed; jitters surrounding the Turkish currency crisis were showing few signs of moving on."
In corporate news, a tough first quarter coupled with a weaker dollar contributed to a fall in interim profits at shipping services company Clarkson.
Pre-tax profits fell to £18.0m from £21.9m on revenues of £152.6m, down from £156.8m year on year. The dividend was increased to 24p a share from 23p.
The company said conditions picked up in the second quarter “when the breadth and diversity of our business again provided opportunity irrespective of volatility in the market” and it remained confident in the mid to long-term.
Elsewhere, Brewin Dolphin announced the appointment of Siobhan Boylan to the board as finance director.
The wealth manager said Boylan, who has been the chief financial officer of Legal & General Investment for the last five years, is likely to join early next year.
Boylan worked at Aviva for 12 years, where she held several senior roles, including CFO of Aviva North America and CFO of Aviva Investors from 2007 to 2011. Before that, she worked 10 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she qualified as an ACA.