London pre-open: Stocks seen muted

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set for a muted open on Tuesday following solid gains in the previous session. The FTSE 100 was called to open unchanged at 7,935

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "US markets also started the week positively, however the positive momentum soon gave way to caution as they closed well off their highs of the day, even as US 2-year yields pared back some of their recent gains, having set another new multiyear high at 4.85%, before slipping back.

"Asia markets have seen a rather quiet and mixed session and markets here in Europe look set to open modestly higher.

"The resilience in inflation remains the key worry for investors now after last week's hotter-than-expected US inflation numbers.

"Attention now turns to Europe this week, starting with France later this morning as we get an early sighter of flash CPI for February, which is expected to come in higher."

In corporate news, online grocer and technology company Ocado Group posted wider losses as the cost-of-living crisis and return to normal shopping habits after the Covid pandemic hammered its joint venture with Marks & Spencer.

The group posted a pre-tax loss of £501m for the year to November 27, 2022 compared with a loss of £179m a year earlier and worse than analyst forecasts of a £399m loss.

Core losses were £74m compared with a profit of £61m a year earlier. Retail losses were £4m, down from a £150m profit in 2021.

Ocado retail revenue declined by 3.8% to £2.2bn in what the firm called a "challenging market" as the benefits of the trend towards online shopping sparked by Covid pandemic lockdowns wound down and customers bought fewer items "exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis".

Elsewhere, Croda posted a rise in full-year sales and profit as it hailed a strong performance in Asia, Western Europe and Latin America, and growth across consumer care and life sciences.

In the year to the end of December 2022, pre-tax profit rose 89.6% to £780m, with sales up 10.6% to £2.1bn.

Chief executive Steve Foots said: "2022 has been a milestone year for Croda as we continued our transition to a pure play consumer care and life sciences business, evolving our portfolio to be more closely aligned to the emerging megatrends driving our markets.

"For the first time, we delivered over £2 billion in sales and £500 million in adjusted operating profit, reflecting progress across all areas of our business. Consumer care is increasingly resilient, supported by encouraging growth in our F&F business, whilst life sciences has built on an exceptional prior year, with an exciting project pipeline in pharma and a stand-out performance in crop protection."