London pre-open: Stocks seen up as Covid restrictions to ease further

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were expected to rise on Monday, with England set to go ahead with the further easing of coronavirus restrictions on 17 May.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 25 points higher 7,155.

Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Ava Trade, said: "The coronavirus infection rate has reached its lowest reading since September, and more than a third of people in the UK have received both doses of vaccine.

"Nearly two-thirds of UK adults have received their first dose of vaccine. Having said that, under 40s are still waiting for their vaccine first shot, and it may be several weeks before they receive anything."

In addition, sentiment is being boosted by expectations that last week's dismal US payrolls report will mean the Federal Reserve backs lower rates for longer.

"The European and US stock futures are moving higher as traders feel a lot more optimistic about going dovish monetary policy support from the Federal Reserve after the weak US NFP data released on Friday," said Aslam. "Looking at the US employment market, it is clear that the US labour market still has a deep hole to fill in."

In corporate news, British Gas owner Centrica said it continued to expect year-on-year operating cost savings of more than £100m this year as part of its restructure plans.

The company said first-quarter electricity demand from its UK business customers was negatively impacted by around 15%, residential boiler installations were down 11% and non-essential service visits were postponed due to Covid-19.

Greggs said annual profit could be similar to 2019 and was likely to materially beat board expectations after like-for-like sales returned to growth following the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions.

The food on-the-go group said like-for-like sales fell 3.9% in the eight weeks to 8 May from two years earlier but that sales rose after non-essential retailers reopened on 12 April.