London pre-open: Stocks seen up as investors mull mid-terms outcome

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to open higher on Monday as investors mulled the outcome of the US mid-terms and looked ahead to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's fiscal statement this week. The FTSE 100 was called to open 16 points higher at 7,334.

Danske Bank said: "Over the weekend, the Democratic party's Catherine Cortez Masto was projected to win the Nevada senate election, which means that Democrats will maintain at least the 50-50 majority in the Senate irrespective of the result of the Georgia runoff election.

"While the result is a positive surprise for the Democrats, it should not have a strong impact on the markets as Republicans are still the favourites to win control of the House, which would end up with a divided Congress.

"This week markets will continue to digest last week's CPI print with special focus on the October Retail sales on Wednesday, which will provide some light on whether the easing price pressures truly reflected lower demand as Fed would hope."

Investors will also be mulling over the latest survey from Rightmove, which showed that house prices fell last month as sellers rushed to secure deals against a backdrop of mounting financial uncertainty.

According to the Rightmove house price index, house prices fell 1.1% in November, taking the average asking price to £366,999. That compares to a 0.9% rise the month before.

Year-on-year, house prices grew by 7.2%, compared to annual growth of 7.8% in October.

November traditionally sees buyers price more competitively, as they look to offload properties ahead of Christmas. Rightmove said this year's fall was in line with the average November declines seen during the pre-pandemic years of 2015 to 2019.

A total of 8% of unsold properties cut prices in October, double the amount in October 2021 yet largely in line with the 7.5% in the same month in 2019.

But Rightmove also acknowledged the market was facing considerable "financial uncertainty". Tim Bannister, director of property science, said: "The plethora of predictions about might what happen to prices next year comes at a time when much is still uncertain. But what is certain is that the exceptional price growth of the last two years is unsustainable against economic headwinds and growing affordability constraints."

New buyer demand rose 4% on 2019, but was down 20% on October 2021, while demand among first-time buyers tumbled 26% year-on-year.

Bannister said: "The now largely superseded mini-budget sped up the slowing of market activity that we had been seeing since the summer, and we're now in another state of limbo as we wait for any surprises or help in Jeremy Hunt's autumn statement on Thursday. The frenzied market of the past two years has turned into a more normal market more abruptly and less smoothly that we were expecting."

In corporate news, drug company Indivior said it would pay $145m for Opiant Pharmaceuticals which produces treatments to overcome opioid addiction.

The price equates to $20 a share, with an extra $8 per share contingent on Opiant's ability to gain approvals and revenue for an overdose-reversal medication in late-stage development.

AstraZeneca said that three of its drugs had been recommended for approval in the European Union.

The pharmaceuticals giant said 'Imfinzi' plus chemotherapy had been recommended for approval as a first immunotherapy regimen for advanced biliary tract cancer, and 'Enhertu' had been recommended for patients with previously-treated HER2-positive advanced gastric cancer.

'Lynparza', in combination with abiraterone, was recommended for approval as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.