London pre-open: Stocks seen up; US markets closed for Martin Luther King day

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to rise at the open on Monday following a mostly positive session in Asia, but trade was expected to be quieter than usual, with US markets closed for Martin Luther King day. The FTSE 100 was called to open 11 points higher at 7,636.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Today the US is off for Martin Luther King Day which means markets in Europe could well be more subdued than normal, and so far this year there hasn't been that much to get particularly excited about anyway.

"The markets already know that the Federal Reserve is done when it comes to further rate increases, and currently have six 25bps rate cuts priced in for this year. That seems rather a lot and is more than the three the Fed have in their dot plot projections.

"This week the focus is set to be very much on the UK economy in the wake of Friday's better-than -expected November GDP numbers, which raised the prospect that the economy may have avoided a technical recession at the end of last year, as a rebound in services activity saw the economy expand by 0.3%.

"This week we get data for wages and unemployment for November, as well as December CPI and retail sales, all of which have the potential to shift the dial on the timing of a first rate cut from the Bank of England."

In corporate news, recruitment specialist PageGroup said 2023 full-year operating profit was expected to be slightly below previous guidance as fourth-quarter profits fell amid a global hiring slowdown.

Fourth-quarter group gross profit fell 8.9% to £237.7m year on year. Trading conditions in Asia, the UK and the US saw no improvement, while trading conditions deteriorated in Europe.

Full-year operating profit was now expected to be slightly below previous guidance of £120m - £125m. The company also axed 224 jobs to cut costs.

"We experienced a slower end to the quarter as customer uncertainty was compounded by the proximity to year end salary reviews and bonuses, which combined to make trading particularly challenging," PageGroup said in a trading update.

Home construction company Crest Nicholson delivered a profit warning as a result of higher-than-expected costs as it announced an additional one-off charge from a legal claim.

The group said that adjusted pre-tax profit for 2023 is now expected to be £41m, lower than the £45-50m range given in November.

Ashmore Group reported a quarter-end update for December, with assets under management (AuM) increasing by $2.3bn.

The company said that growth was driven by a positive investment performance of $3.9bn, partially offset by net outflows of $1.6bn. Its net outflows decreased compared to prior quarters due to improving global macroeconomic conditions, with equities attracting net inflows, and fixed income outflows showing no significant patterns.