London pre-open: Stocks to edge up as Fed enthusiasm wanes

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to rise at the open on Friday but gains were expected to be limited as enthusiasm over the Federal Reserve's dovish comments this week began to wane. The FTSE 100 was called to open 12 points higher at 7,661.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "After getting off to a strong start yesterday, with both the DAX and CAC 40 trading up at new record highs, European markets lost momentum after firstly the Bank of England, and then the European Central Bank decided to play the Grinch in contrast to the Fed's Santa and push back on following a similar rate cut outlook, with the DAX finishing the session lower.

"With the recent euphoria showing signs of petering out markets in Asia shifted their focus to the latest Chinese retail sales and industrial production numbers for November, with European markets set to open modestly higher."

On home shores, a survey out earlier showed that consumer confidence edged higher in December as people became more optimistic for the year ahead.

GfK's consumer confidence index, which has been running since 1974, rose two points this month to -22.

Within that, all five measures showed modest improvement. The personal finance situation for the coming year ticked up 1 point at -2, while the outlook for the general economic situation also improved by 1 point, to -25.

The major purchase index rose one point to -23.

Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, said: "Against the backdrop of flattening economic growth, interest rates at a 15-year high and price rises potentially eroding disposable income for years to come, the index shows a modest improvement this month.

"Although the headline figure of -22 means the nation's confidence is still firmly in negative territory, optimism for our personal finances for the next 12 months shows a notable recovery from the depressed -29 this time last year.

"Recovery in this number is importanta, as it best reflects household financial optimism and control over personal budgets."

The survey of 2,003 individuals aged 16 and over was carried about between 29 November and 8 December.

Still to come, the S&P Global/CIPS flash manufacturing PMI for December is due at 0930 GMT.

Corporate news was scarce, but Naked Wines reiterated plans to turn the business around, despite falling deeper into the red and posting a slump in half-year revenues.

The AIM-listed online retailer said total revenues in the 26 weeks to 2 October had fallen 20%, to £132.3m, while pre-tax losses widened to £9.7m from £0.2m a year previously.