London pre-open: FTSE to continue lower amid Greece fears

London-listed stocks were expected to begin Tuesday's session on the back foot, extending losses into their fourth day.City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around 9-10 points lower than Monday's close of 6,790.04."The fact that we're seeing technical support levels [across Europe] being broken and indices trading at multi-month lows having already recorded more than 5% losses in the last couple of weeks doesn't bode well," Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam observed."While the sell-off may not be easing up right now, I do think that any significant progress in Greek talks this week could bring an end to the sell-off for now as a deal would remove an enormous amount of uncertainty. Numerous deadlines have been set for when a deal between Greece and its creditors needs to be done and the latest is the middle of this month giving Greece around a week to come to an agreement or prepare for default."On the day's agenda are reports on Chinese inflation, UK trade and Eurozone gross domestic product (GDP).Analysts expect China's consumer price index to rise 1.3% year-on-year in May, easing back from a 1.5% increase a month earlier, amid concerns about a slowdown in the world's second largest economy.The UK's trade deficit is forecast to narrow to £2,600m in April from £2,817m in May.The second estimate of first quarter Eurozone GDP is projected to show a 1% year-on-year gain and a 0.4% quarter-on-quarter rise, unchanged from the previous quarter's reading.The European Central Bank last week said it sees real gross domestic product rising 1.5% in 2015, before increasing 1.9% in 2016 and 2.0% in 2017.In company news, HSBC announced a round of job cuts and branch closures with the aim of saving between $4.5bn to $5bn in annual costs by 2017. In a statement issued to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the lender said it would reduce its risk-weighted assets by about $290bn, targeting a return on equity of more than 10% within two years, down from a previous target of 12% to 15% by 2016. Globally between 22,000 and 25,000 jobs are set to go.Kier Group has completed its acquisition of Mouchel, which is the leading provider of repair and maintenance services to the UK strategic road network. The FTSE 250 made the acquisition to accelerate its plans for growth in the infrastructure sector and will now be able to capitalise on the £17bn of investment in the strategic road network that is to be delivered through Highways England over the next five years.RPC Group posted a 33% rise in full-year adjusted pre-tax profit to £119m from £89.5m, as the business performed well and the company made progress in implementing its Vision 2020 growth strategy. Revenue was up 17% at £1.22m from £1.05m and the company recommended a final dividend of 11p, giving a total dividend for the year of 15.4p, marking a 12% increase from last year.