London pre-open: Stocks seen up despite uninspiring US, Asian sessions

Sharecast - The FTSE 100 was called to open 18 points higher at 7,903.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "The pound will also be in focus as Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey testifies to the Treasury Select Committee, along with chief economist Huw Pill, as well as Jonathan Haskel and Silvana Tenreyro discussing the latest interest rate decision, with Tenreyro’s testimony likely to be the most instructive given she voted to keep rates unchanged."

Investors will be digesting a survey from RICS, which showed the UK house market continued to falter last month as prices and sales both fell in response to higher mortgage costs.

According to the latest residential market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the net balance for house prices softened to -47 from -42 in December.

A balance measures the difference between the percentage of surveyors seeing rises and those reporting falls.

New buyer enquiries also fell, with a net balance of -47 compared to -40 a month previously, the ninth successive negative reading. The new instructions balance came in at -14.

RICS said the market was still adjusting to the higher borrowing costs, after mortgage rates rocketed in the autumn in response to the government’s disastrous mini-budget.

Surveyors did not forecast any short-term improvement. The near-term price expectations measure was -66, while sales were expected to continuing falling in the coming three months, with a balance of -49, although that was a marginal uptick on December’s -54.

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS, said: "Although some respondents noted a little more interest in the housing market as the new year got underway, the overall tone of the feedback still remains subdued, which is not altogether surprising given the jump in mortgage rates since the autumn.

"Prices, meanwhile, are now beginning to reflect the shift in balance between demand and supply.

"However, it is questionable how much downside to pricing there is likely to be, given that recent macro-forecasts from the Bank of England and others are now envisaging a less harsh economic environment this year."

In corporate news, British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) posted a slight increase in full-year revenues thanks to volume growth and price increases in its New Category unit.

Revenues rose by 2.3% and earnings per share by 5.8% on an adjusted and diluted basis. It also brought forward its break-even target for its New Category products by one year to 2024.

Net debt as a proportion of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation came in at 2.89 with the full-year payout ahead by 6.0%.

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Nonetheless, the macro-economic outlook was expected to remain challenging.

Pharma giant AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) reported full-year earnings in line with expectations and said it expected 2023 core profits to increase by high-single to low-double digits.

The company said core earnings per share of $6.66 as revenue rose 19% to $44bn.

Total revenue in the fourth quarter was impacted by the decline in its Covid-19 treatment.

Caterer Compass Group (LON:CPG) said that organic revenues had grown 24% in the first quarter and stated it was "excited" about the "significant growth potential" across its markets.

Compass said it continued to benefit from "strong outsourcing trends", with net new business growth of 5.5%, significantly above its historical rate of around 3%. All regions were said to have "performed strongly" in the quarter - with organic growth of 23% in North America, 26% in Europe and 27% in its rest of world segment.

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