London pre-open: Blue chips to retreat ahead of BoE hearing

10th Sep 2014 07:42

London-listed stocks are expected to open lower at Wednesday's opening bell, tracking losses seen in both the US and Asia overnight.City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around 12 points lower than Tuesday's close of 6,829.00.Data published in Asia overnight revealed that China's money supply growth slowed in August to its lowest level in five months.Over in the States stocks were initially supported by the huge interest in the release of the iPhone 6 from Apple, but ended the day in the red with all three benchmark indices lower.Alpari market analyst Craig Erlam said: "Once again we're seeing an unwillingness to continue to buy into the rally near the record high levels that US indices currently find themselves around yet at the same time, every time we see a dip in the market, investors are flooding to buy."He also noted that much of the declines seen overnight are being attributed to the rising bond yields, mainly those in the US but also abroad."Rising yields may reflect a slight repricing of the first rate hike with some believing that markets had priced in a later hike than the Fed is suggesting," he explained. "While that may be true, this should only cause short term weakness in the markets as we haven't seen anything that would suggest the Fed itself has brought forward its rate hike expectations."Slow news flow is also a factor, he said.Things are likely to hot up somewhat on Wednesday, however, with the Bank of England inflation report hearing.Four members of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will sit down before the Treasury Committee and answer questions on its inflation report, providing an opportunity for the market to glean more concrete guidance on monetary policy.As well as a stronger guidance on future monetary policy and the timing of impending interest rate rises from Governor Mark Carney and fellow committee members Martin Weale and David Miles, the market will be particularly interested in what new member Nemat Shafik has to say, since her views are still fairly unknown, noted Sam Tombs at Capital Economics.The inflation report took place back in mid-August, with the Carney underlining that whilst there has been a reduction in slack within the economy, the BoE also lowered wage growth expectations.US wholesale inventories and French industrial production figures are also due for release on Wednesday.In UK company news, B&Q and Brico Depot owner Kingfisher announced the appointment of a French female chief executive as it reported flat profits due to currency volatility, although it said the buoyant UK housing market had lifted demand for DIY products. French sales were only slightly up as the group took a hit from the ongoing slow economy and declining housing market in France.As it reported an impressive set of final results, housebuilder Barratt Developments confirmed current trading had returned to more seasonal trends and pledged to return almost £1bn to shareholders over the next three years. Results for the year to end-June, which were well flagged in a recent pre-close update, were up 21.1% to £3.1bn, with pre-tax profits more than doubled to £390.6m and earnings up fourfold to 31.2p per share.