London pre-open: Stocks seen lower ahead of ECB, US GDP

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to drop at the open on Thursday following losses on Wall Street, as investors eyed the latest policy announcement from the European Central Bank and US GDP data. The FTSE 100 was called to open 33 points lower at 7,381.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Last night's slide in US markets and a similar decline in Asia, looks set to translate into a lower European open, ahead of another big macro day with the ECB and US Q3 GDP set to be the major focus.

"Is the ECB done hiking? The decision to hike rates back in September to a record high of 4.5% was somewhat of a surprise given some of the narrative that had been coming from ECB President Christine Lagarde in the lead-up to the decision.

"It has also become apparent that there are clear divisions on the governing council on the future path of monetary policy with the northern part of the euro area, and specifically Germany keen to keep the pressure on, lest inflation run higher despite the recent sharp falls in the headline rate."

The ECB announcement is at 1315 BST, while Q3 US GDP figures are due out at 1330 BST.

In corporate news, Standard Chartered posted a decline in third-quarter pre-tax profit as it took a hit from its exposure to the Chinese property and banking sectors.

In the three months to the end of September, pre-tax profit fell to $633m from $1.4bn a year earlier.

The bank said credit impairment charges in the quarter were $294m, up $62m on the same period a year earlier. This included further charges relating to the China commercial real estate sector.

In addition, StanChart said it reduced the carrying value of its investment in China Bohai Bank by $697m.

Paper packaging specialist DS Smith reiterated its guidance for first-half operating profits thanks to a sequential improvement in corrugated box volume performance and better-than-expected pricing.

Earnings before interest, taxes, and amortisation were seen at roughly £360m over the six months to 31 October. Corrugated box volumes remained below their year earlier level and the macro-economic environment was described as "weak".

However, the company anticipated volume performance would improve in the back half of the financial year and said that it was well positioned for the remainder of the year.

GSK announced that its subsidiary ViiV Healthcare has received approval from China's National Medical Products Administration for 'Vocabria', or cabotegravir, injection in combination with Janssen's 'Rekambys' for treating HIV-1 in adults.

The approval follows the prior authorisation of cabotegravir injection and tablets in China in July. It said the combination therapy was an alternative to daily oral medication for people with HIV-1 and addressed potential adherence challenges, given that more than one million people were living with HIV in China as of October 2020.