London pre-open: Stocks seen up as Credit Swiss takes $54bn loan

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to rise at the open on Thursday following a heavy selloff in the previous session amid a rout in bank shares, as Credit Suisse took a $54bn loan from the Swiss central bank. The FTSE 100 was called to open around 50 points higher at 7,394, having closed down a whopping 3.8% on Wednesday.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Credit Suisse is the first major bank, deemed too big to fail, to take up the offer of an emergency lifeline. The announcement that it will draw on emergency funds from the Swiss National Bank underlines how fragile the lender had become, as the withdrawal of deposits continued at pace and confidence seeped away.

"It also highlights the lightning speed of the global fall-out of Silicon Valley Bank's collapse, which has shaken the banking sector, and prompted investors spotting weaknesses in other institutions, to race for the exit. The $54 billion rescue wad is staunching worries about a bigger run on Credit Suisse and the repercussions for other institutions around the world exposed to its operations.

"For now, the move has restored a little stability to global markets, with the S&P 500 regaining ground, once it appeared the Swiss National Bank was standing by to help. Nerves are still frayed though and that has been evident during trade in Asia."

In corporate news, real estate agent Savills said it expected a tough first half of the current year as it reported a fall in annual profits.

The company said pre-tax profit for the year to December 31 fell 16% to £154m, slightly better than expected. Revenue rose 7% to £2.3bn.

"In the year ahead, challenging macro conditions are expected to continue with inflation and interest rates remaining in focus for some time," Savills said. "As a result, the speed at which individual investment markets adjust to the cost of debt is uncertain, although certain markets, such as the UK, are recalibrating faster than in the past, and will be helped by the lack of development supply and an overall trend to sustainability."

Elsewhere, Halma said full-year adjusted pre-tax profit was set to be in line with consensus market expectations of £359.9m following "good progress" in the year.

"We have delivered organic constant currency revenue growth in all sectors and regions in the year to date," it said. "All sectors are expected to deliver strong revenue growth on a reported basis for the full year. Sector revenue growth trends in the second half of the year on an organic constant currency basis have been broadly consistent with those seen in the first half."