London pre-open: Stocks seen muted after heavy losses

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set for a muted open on Tuesday following heavy losses in the previous session and after markets in the US slumped overnight. The FTSE 100 was called to open unchanged at 7,216.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Having come off five successive weekly declines for markets in Europe, yesterday's sell off doesn't bode well for the prospect of a pause in the recent weakness, as we saw both the DAX and FTSE 100 fall sharply below their April lows.

"While investors have spent most of the last few months fretting about events in Europe and the war between Ukraine and Russia, there had been the hope that the Chinese economy might be able to pick up the slack, as far as global growth is concerned.

"Yesterday the penny finally dropped that this was unlikely to happen, after another poor set of China trade numbers affirmed the idea that no matter how poor the economic data, Chinese authorities don't appear to be in any mood to change tack when it comes to their current zero-covid policy, as authorities in Beijing and Shanghai tightened covid restrictions further over the weekend.

"US markets also fell like a stone for the third day in succession, with the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 falling through key support levels, with the S&P 500 falling and closing below the 4,000 level for the first time since April last year."

In corporate news, precision instrument maker Spectris said it had bought US firm Dytran Instruments for $82m (£66m).

Based in California, Dytran designs and makes accelerometers and sensors for measuring dynamic force, pressure, and vibration for the space, aerospace, industrial and automotive industries.

Media platform operator Future has acquired US-based women's lifestyle publisher WhoWhatWear from Clique Brands for an undisclosed sum.

Future said the acquisition of WhoWhatWear, which will be funded from existing debt facilities, would further strengthens its position in the women's lifestyle vertical and give the FTSE 250-listed group greater scale and reach in North America to further monetise its audience.