London pre-open: Stocks seen higher as investors continue to cheer Macron
London stocks were set for another positive day on Tuesday, taking their cue from upbeat sessions in the US and Asia as investors continued to bet that centrist Emmanuel Macron will win the French presidential elections.
The FTSE 100 was expected to open 17 points higher at 7,281.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Markets are surmising that Emmanuel Macron is a dead certainty to be French President in two weeks’ time, and while this is probably the most benign outcome at a time of rising populism it completely overlooks the challenges facing the new French President when he or she takes office on May 8."
On the data front, public sector net borrowing figures are due at 0930 BST.
Hewson said the data for March is expected to show an increase from the £1.1bn in February to about £2bn keeping the government on course to reducing its overall borrowing on an annualised basis, with the OBR forecasting that the deficit this year would come in around £51.7bn.
In corporate news, wealth manager St James's Place said first quarter gross inflows rose 32% to £3.23bn with net inflows up to £1.99bn from £1.36bn.
Group funds under management rose to £79.84bn from £62.02bn.
Chief executive David Bellamy said high client retention had contributed to the strong result.
Transport operators Stagecoach and Virgin Group have teamed up with French high speed operator SNCF to bid for the west coast partnership rail franchise.
The companies have already worked together on the expression of interest stage of the bid, which was submitted on Monday, and they will now prepare for the ‘invitation to tender’ stage, which is expected to be issued by the end of the year.
Whitbread beat profit forecasts for the year and although it reported a good start to 2017 it warned of a tougher consumer environment than last year.
Underlying profit before tax 6.2% to £565.2m in the year to 2 March, as Premier Inn saw revenue per available room decline 0.6% and Costa Coffee's UK like-for-like sales grow 2.0%.