London pre-open: Stocks seen up on solid US, Asian cues

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to rise at the open on Friday following solid US and Asian sessions. The FTSE 100 was called to open 24 points higher at 7,968.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "After starting the day lower yesterday, European markets gradually clawed their way back to finish in positive territory, even as EU core CPI inflation surged to a new record high, driving yields higher across the board.

"These inflationary concerns initially weighed on US equity markets after they opened, but the failure to push below technical support at the 200-day SMA on both the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 prompted a rebound which resulted in a positive close, after comments from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic that indicated he would be in favour of a rate pause by the summer. This looks set to translate into a positive European open."

Investors will also be mulling over the latest data out of China earlier.

The Caixin services purchasing managers' index rose to 55.0 in February from 52.9 the month before. This was above consensus expectations for a reading of 54.5 and comfortably above the 50.0 mark that separates contraction from expansion.

In corporate news, educational publisher Pearson reported a better-than-expected rise in annual profits driven by revenue growth and cost savings and said it would grow sales by low to mid-single digits this year.

The company on reported an 11% rise in adjusted operating profit to £456m, compared with a company compiled consensus forecast of £446 million.

Revenue rose 5% on an underlying basis to £3.8bn, with increases across most of its divisions with the exception of higher education, which fell 4% driven by a decline in enrolments and a loss of adoptions to non-mainstream publishers, including open educational resources, partially offset by improved pricing.

Elsewhere, property portal Rightmove posted a rise in full-year operating profit as it pointed to "resilient traffic despite a significantly less frenetic property market than 2021".

In the year to the end of December 2022, operating profit was up 7% at £241.3m, with revenues 9% higher at £332.6m.

Chief executive Peter Brooks-Johnson said: "The year's changing housing market conditions demonstrated our customers' resilience and ability to adapt and to continue to succeed. The softening from the Covid-induced frenetic market towards a more normal market earlier in the year was disrupted in the final few months by the unexpected rapid mortgage rate increases.

"The strength of our results is a reminder of how effective and integral our new and existing products and services are in helping our customers in both faster and slower markets."