London pre-open: FTSE to open marginally higher

City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around two points higher than yesterday's close of 6,728.37, tracking modest gains seen in the US last night and ahead of today's inflation figures.US markets ended slightly higher yesterday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting another record close, extending recent gains despite increased speculation surrounding the impending taper of quantitative easing.Today, all eyes will turn to German and UK inflation. Germany's consumer price index (CPI) is expected to remain unchanged at 1.2% in October. UK inflation is predicted to fall to 2.5% in October from 2.7% a month earlier. It will come a day ahead of the Bank of England's quarterly inflation report which will be watched closely to see if the central bank upgrades its economic forecasts. A change in economic projections could set the stage for bringing forward the expected date of its first interest rate hike.In other news, Energy Secretary Ed Davey is today expected to say that energy customers are not "cash cows" that can be "squeezed" to earn higher profits for shareholders. The Liberal Democrat Minister is set to urge businesses in the industry to become more transparent about exactly how they are tackling rising bills. CRH delivers modest Q3 rise in sales In this morning's company news, building materials giant CRH reported a small increase in like-for-like (LFL) sales in the third quarter, a strong turnaround after difficult weather conditions hit revenues in the first half. LFL sales in the three months to the end of September improved by 2% across the group, following a 6% decline in the first six months of the year. Overall sales revenue totalled €5.4bn during the period, some 2% ahead of the €5.3bn reported the year before.Babcock International Group has lifted its dividend by 10% to 6.9p due to a strong first half and a positive outlook. The engineering support services company achieved pre-tax profit of £105.9m in the six months through September, up 32% on the previous year's £80.4m.Real estate giant Land Securities posted improved revenue profit and net asset value (NAV) during the six months ended September 30th and said it is confident of delivering future progress. The UK's largest commercial property firm said basic NAV per share rose to 994p in the period from 959p a year earlier. Revenue profit rose to 8.9% to £156.5m.GlaxoSmithKline's heart disease drug, darapladib, has missed a key milestone in its development. The group said it would continued to investigate the darapladib inhibitor and would work to better understand the data, including evaluation of the patient sub-groups, and await the outcome of a second Phase III study of darapladib in acute coronary syndrome to help it determine its next stage of work. Monday's big moversYesterday, in a major blow to BSkyB and ITV, telecoms group BT confirmed that it has won the exclusive rights to broadcast live the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League for three seasons. RSA Insurance was also a heavy faller after saying that "issues in the Irish claims and finance functions" were found during a routine internal audit, leading to the suspension of its Ireland Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and two of his senior executives. NR