London pre-open: Stocks seen higher, all eyes on the euro

5th Dec 2011 07:19

The Footsie is expected to make moderate gains from the open, as a pivotal week in the Eurozone crisis kicks off. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are due to meet in Paris today to discuss the centralised control of Eurozone budgets ahead of a key EU summit on Friday.City sources are predicting a 22 point gain in the opening minutes, up from Friday's close of 5,552. The blue chip index made impressive gains of 7.5% last week, helped by the co-ordinated intervention by major central banks to provide cheap access to dollar funding.FTSE 250 recruitment firm Michael Page International (MPI) will likely be in focus today after cutting its full-year profit forecasts this morning, owing to a marked drop in client and candidate confidence levels on the back of macro-economic uncertainty. In the first two months of the fourth quarter (October and November), the group has seen gross profit rise by 16%, well below the 26.5% growth seen in the three months ended 30 September. Pre-tax profits for 2011 are now expected to be under the bottom end of the current range of analysts forecasts of between £86.5m and £114.2m.Support services firm Carillion has been awarded a £395m contract for the Msheireb Downtown Doha project, involving the development and regeneration of 31 hectares in the centre of Doha, Qatar. "Securing this prestigious contract, Carillion's first contract in Qatar, underlines the reputation that Carillion has established in the Middle East region over the last 40 years for quality and delivery," the firm said. The contract is an 80:20 joint venture with the Qatar Building Company and is worth £316m to Carillion. Travel firm TUI Travel has reported record results for the year ended 30 September "against a backdrop of unrest in key North African destinations and weak consumer sentiment in some source markets," said chief executive Peter Long. Underlying profits rose 18% to a record £471m on revenue that increased 9% to £14,687m. The total dividend was raised from 11p to 11.3p per share.BC