Tracking a weaker session in Asia overnight, UK stocks are expected to begin a macro-focused week with small gains.City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around nine points lower than Friday's close of 6,546.47."As we approach a major week in the markets in terms of economic events, we are likely to see more caution creep in as traders seek to gain their sentiment through the various releases throughout the week," said Alpari market analyst Joshue Mahony.The weakness is largely due to the slowdown seen in Chinese manufacturing growth in October that was announced on Saturday.According the National Bureau of Statistics, the country's official purchasing managers index (PMI) dropped to 50.8 from 51.1 in September, although this was marginally higher than the figure of 50.4 that was given by HSBC on Monday morning."The fact of the matter is that the one sector that matters is manufacturing, yet for two and a half years, the sector has failed to gain any sort of meaningful traction, with a peak of 51.7 compared to a reading of 59.2 recorded in mid-2008," Mahony said.The news reversed gains seen on Friday, which came after Japan announced it will put half of its holdings in local and foreign stocks, doubling previous levels, and invest in alternative assets.The Bank of Japan last week raised its annual target for monetary expansion to 80trn yen ($724bn) from 70trn yen.Closer to home, both the US and Europe will both also see the release of manufacturing PMI data in Monday's session, with readings from the latter expected to be mixed.In company news, Diageo has agreed on an asset-swap deal with Casa Cuervo which will see the UK spirits group take full control of tequila label Don Julio in exchange for selling its Bushmills whisky brand. The deal, which also involves the early termination of Case Cuervo's production and distribution agreement for Smirnoff in Mexico, will result in a net payment of $408m to Diageo on completion.Drugs maker Astrazeneca has completed the transfer of the development and commercialisation rights to Almirall's respiratory franchise, paying an initial $875m, plus up to a further $1.22bn in development, launch and sales-related milestones. The deal is expected to be neutral to core earnings per share in 2015 and accretive from 2016.Ryanair's first half profits flew 32% higher to €795m on Monday thanks to a strong summer and the budget airline's customer charm offensive, involving the introduction of allocated seating, extra free hand baggage and new initiatives to lure business travellers.
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