London pre-open: Stocks seen weaker as Christmas lull sets in

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to edge down at the open on Monday following a negative session in Asia, as the pre-Christmas lull sets in. The FTSE 100 was called to open seven points lower at 7,569.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "As we look towards the final week before the Christmas break, trading activity is likely to be somewhat thin and choppy, and while we have seen record highs for the Dow, DAX and CAC 40 in the last week or so, we still remain some distance away from the 2021 record peaks of the Nasdaq 100 and S&P500.

"As for the FTSE100 we're looking at yet another year of underperformance, after the record highs of mid-February, with the UK benchmark up by just over 1% year to date, with the FTSE250 not faring that much better.

"Due to the relatively subdued nature of Friday's US finish, today's European market open looks set to be a slightly weaker one with the only data of note the latest German IFO Business survey for December.

"Given the weak nature of last week's PMI numbers it would be surprising to see a significant improvement on the November numbers when the current assessment improved slightly to 89.4."

The German Ifo index for December is due at 0900 GMT. There are no UK data of note scheduled for release.

In corporate news, British speciality chemicals company Croda International is on the hunt for a new chief financial officer after announcing that its Louisa Burdett will leave the group next year to join Spirax-Sarco Engineering.

Croda also confirmed that its full-year outlook for 2023 remains unchanged with adjusted profit before tax still expected to be between £300m and £320m, albeit at the lower end of that range.

Games Workshop has struck an exclusive rights deal with Amazon to develop its Warhammer 40,000 game into films and television series, together with associated merchandising rights.

Under the terms of the agreement, Games Workshop Amazon can also license equivalent rights in the Warhammer Fantasy universe following the release of the initial Warhammer 40,000 production.

The two companies will work together for 12 months to agree creative guidelines for the films and television series to be developed by Amazon, with the agreement will only proceeding once creative guidelines are mutually agreed.