London pre-open: Move higher expected

15th Jul 2009 07:36

It looks like being a bright start for London on Wednesday following yesterday's recovery in the US from an early loss to 27-point gain by the close of play.Better than expected results from Intel and Goldman Sachs appear to have whetted investors' appetites for equities. Futures prices indicate a quick 25-point gain for the FTSE 100.Miner Rio Tinto continued to experience "difficult" conditions at its aluminum business during the second quarter, with production there down 5% on the same time last year. Production cutbacks in response to the sharp fall in demand also had bauxite output down 14% and alumina down 6%. Global iron ore output rose though, up 8%. Mined copper fell 1%, but refined copper jumped 23%. Pub group JD Wetherspoon said like-for-like sales in the 50 weeks to July increased 1.2% and that it is "optimistic" about prospects for the new year. In the period to period to 12 July), overall sales rose 5.2% thanks to an encouraging sales performance from both its existing pubs and new openings. Q4 lfl sales fell 0.8% and total sales 3.1%.London Stock Exchange's revenues rallied quarter on quarter in the three months to June, but are still running well below levels seen last year. Against a strong prior year comparative quarter, revenue in first quarter fell 8% to £161.9m and by 12% on a constant currency basis. But revenue was up by 5% and by 7% respectively.Interdealer broker ICAP expects underlying profit for the year to March 2010 to be in line with expectations, providing exchange rates remain at current levels for the remainder of the year. Revenue grew by over 10% in the quarter ended 30 June 2009 compared with the same period in the previous year.