London pre-open: Stocks seen muted as oil prices rise

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set for a muted open on Tuesday ahead of a slew of UK data releases, as investors digested news that EU leaders have agreed to ban 90% of Russian oil by the end of the year. The FTSE 100 was called to open unchanged at 7,600.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Asia markets have undergone a mixed session, in the aftermath of these numbers, and while things may be improving in the Chinese economy, the continued rise in oil prices is likely to act as a drag on economic activity, after EU leaders agreed a deal to block 90% of oil imports by the end of this year.

"As a result of this drag, European markets look set to open cautiously lower."

On the UK macro front, net lending, consumer credit and mortgage approvals for April are due out at 0930 BST.

In corporate news, B&M European Value Retail said UK like-for-like sales over the first eight weeks of the current financial year were down 13.2% and 11.5% against 2022 and 2021 respectively amid inflationary pressures and the cost-of-living crisis.

It also announced flat annual profits for the year to March 26 and said chief financial officer Alex Russo would be replacing Simon Arora as CEO.

Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said it had agreed to acquire Boston-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Affinivax as part of a deal valued at as much as $3.3bn.

GlaxoSmithKline will make an upfront payment of $2.1bn for Affinivax, with another $1.2bn in potential development milestones to follow upon the achievement of certain paediatric clinical development milestones. Under the terms of the agreement, GSK will acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of Affinivax.