London pre-open: Stocks set for lower start after EU elections

(Sharecast News) - Stocks in London look primed for a lower start as investors digest the gains made by far right parties in Austria, Germany, but above all France, at the European Union elections that were held at the weekend. The centre right European People's Party fared well overall, but in France, Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National (RN) garnered more than twice as many votes as the incumbent Ensemble party led by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Hence Macron's decision to call snap parliamentary elections.

"For a fiscally challenged France, new parliamentary elections add a level of uncertainty. This could turn into a concern for markets," said Holger Schmieding at Berenberg.

Against that backdrop, as of 0704 BST FTSE 100 futures were retreating by 54.50 points to 8,208.0.

In parallel, euro/dollar was falling by 0.47% to 1.0750, while US equity futures were mostly higher.

No major economic releases were scheduled in the UK while in the US the market spotlight would be on the results of a trio of Treasury debt auctions.

On the broker front, AstraZeneca shares may catch a bid at the start of the week after analysts at Berenberg lifted their target price on the shares from 13,000p to 15,000p.

Chemring rings up new deal with America's Lockheed

Chemring said it had signed a 15-year deal partnering deal with US defence firm Northrop Grumman for the supply of HMX energetic material used in its missile programmes along with an order for the product worth $83m as demand for military weapons increased globally. The deal, made through the company's Norwegian subsidiary Chemring Nobel, "supports Northrop Grumman's efforts to expand its munitions manufacturing production in response to growing customer demand", the company said on Monday.

Pennon Group has chosen David Sproul, a former global deputy CEO at Deloitte, as its Chair Designate. A chartered accountant, Sproul was also chair at Starling Bank, as well as serving as a non-executive director at asset manager Safanad Lmtd., a senior adviser at Bridgepoint Europe and is the Chair designate at University of Hertfordshire. He will replace Gill Rider on 24 July.