LONDON MARKET EARLY CALL: Stocks To Rebound Ahead Of UK GDP

LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks are set to open higher Tuesday ahead of the first reading of second quarter UK GDP and amid another busy day in the UK corporate calendar with half-year results expected from BP, GKN and ITV, among many others.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index to open higher at 6,531.4. The index closed down 1.1% at 6,505.13 on Monday, its fifth straight day of losses after a rout in Chinese stocks sent the Shanghai Composite to its biggest daily loss since 2007.

In Asia on Tuesday, the Shanghai Composite continues lower, down 2.0%, after falling 8.5% on Monday. The Chinese central bank is to inject CNY50 billion into money markets in the country through seven-day reverse bond repurchase agreements on Tuesday, Reuters reports, citing traders.

The injection is the largest made by the People's Bank of China through open market operations since July 7.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Nikkei is up 0.1% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong trades up 1.0%.

On Wall Street Monday, the DJIA closed down 0.7%, the S&P 500 ended down 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite closed off 1.0%.

Investors will be looking ahead to looking ahead to a preliminary reading of UK second quarter GDP at 0930 BST. Economists forecast GDP to edge up 0.7% quarter-on-quarter from the 0.4% growth seen in the first quarter and to rise 2.6% year-on-year, slowing slightly from the 2.9% seen in Q1.

Also in the economic calendar is US Markit services and composite purchasing managers' index at 1445 BST and consumer confidence at 1500 BST.

Zurich Insurance said early Tuesday it is evaluating a potential bid for RSA Insurance Group. In a short statement, the Swiss insurer confirmed it is evaluating a potential offer for RSA. It added that the announcement does not represent a firm offer to buy RSA and said there is no assurance that any offer will be made.

In the UK corporate calendar, there are half-year results from BP, GKN, and ITV, while Next issues a second quarter trading statement. From FTSE 250-listed companies, there will be half-year results from Provident Financial Group, Shawbrook Group, Virgin Money, SEGRO, Tullett Prebon, Rathbone Brothers, Informa, Domino's Pizza Group, Jardine Lloyd Thompson, Pace, Drax Group and Elementis.

By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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