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LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks are set to open a touch higher Wednesday ahead of services Purchasing Managers' Index readings from the eurozone and its large constituents, as well as the UK and the US.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 14 points higher at 6,903.3. The index closed down 0.7% at 6,889.13 Tuesday as investors focussed on a large number of UK corporate earnings report that included lower profits from both Barclays and mining and commodities trading giant Glencore.
Wall Street ended lower Tuesday, with the DJIA and the S&P 500 both closing down 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite ended down 0.6%, falling below the 5,000 mark to 4,979.90.
In Asia Wednesday, the Nikkei closed down 0.6%, the Hang Seng trades down 0.9%, while the Shanghai Composite is up 0.5%.
China's service sector expansion accelerated slightly in February, led by solid rise in new work, the results of a survey by Markit Economics and HSBC. The services business activity index rose slightly to 52.0 in February from January's six- month low of 51.8. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector.
However, Japan's service sector contracted in February after expanding in the previous month, according to a report by Markit. The services PMI, fell to 48.5 in February from 51.3 in January. This marked a moderate rate of decline in service sector activity.
Among pre-market UK company announcements Wednesday, ITV proposed a GBP250 million special dividend at 6.25 pence per share, and raised its total ordinary dividend, as it posted a rise in pretax profit for 2014. The company proposed a final dividend of 3.3 pence, taking its total dividend for the year up to 4.7 pence from 3.5 pence. The company has committed to grow its full-year ordinary dividends by at least 20% per year over the three years to 2016.
Legal & General Group reported an 8% increase in annual pretax profit, bolstered by double digit operating profit growth in its retirement, capital and investment management divisions. The life insurance and investments group said it made a GBP1.24 billion pretax profit in 2014, up 8.8% from GBP1.14 billion in 2013.
There also have been full-year results released from precious metals miner Fresnillo, London-focused commercial property company CLS Holdings, aviation services firm BBA Aviation, construction company Carillion, funeral services company Dignity, engineering investment group Melrose Industries, and bakery chain Greggs.
Standard Chartered will be report its full-year earnings at 0815 GMT.
In the economic calendar Wednesday, there is Markit Services and Composite PMI from France at 0850 GMT, Germany at 0855 GMT, the eurozone at 0930 GMT, and the US at 1445 GMT. Markit Services PMI for the UK will be at 0930 GMT. Eurozone retail sales is at 1000 GMT and US ISM non-manufacturing PMI is at 1500 GMT.
By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
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