London pre-open: Stocks to fall as investors mull UK GDP

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to fall again at the open on Monday following heavy losses on Friday on the back of hotter-than-expected US inflation data, and as investors digest the latest UK GDP figures. The FTSE 100 was called to open 45 points lower at 7,272.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "US markets posted their worst decline since January, while the DAX and FTSE100 both posted their biggest weekly falls in three months, with all of these markets set to open sharply lower."

On home shores, investors will also be mulling over the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, which showed the UK economy shrank by 0.3% in April amid higher prices and supply chain issues. This followed a 0.1% decline in March, with contractions seen in services, production and construction.

ONS director of economic statistics, Darren Morgan, said: "A big drop in the health sector due to the winding down of the test and trace scheme pushed the UK economy into negative territory in April.

"Manufacturing also suffered with some companies telling us they were being affected by rising fuel and energy prices.

"These were partially offset by growth in car sales, which recovered from a significantly weaker than usual March."

In corporate news, industrial business park owner Sirius Real Estate reported a 73.1% rise in annual rents to €167m driven by higher demand and acquisitions as it lifted its dividend by 16%.

Pre-tax profit for the year to March 31 was up 3.2% to €1 69m. The company is paying out a total per-share dividend of 4.4 cents.

Real estate investment trust Tritax Big Box has leased one million square foot across four buildings at its Symmetry Park Rugby development site to an unnamed storage and information management services group.

Tritax Big Box stated the logistics facilities, two were from its speculative development programme, will be let on a new 15-year lease, with five yearly open market rent reviews, and were collectively expected to deliver a yield on cost within its 6-8% guidance range.