London pre-open: Stocks set to fall as UK election voting kicks off

Stocks are set for a lower open on Thursday as UK voters head to the polls in one of the most unpredictable elections in decades.City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open 25 points lower than Wednesday's close of 6,933.74 with UK markets expected to track losses in the US and Asia overnight.Analyst Craig Erlam from Oanda said the polls have barely changed in recent months "and still show the Conservatives and Labour neck and neck with around a third of the votes each meaning both will be a long way from securing a majority". He said: "This creates a lot of uncertainty that could weigh on the markets today."Investors will also likely be acting cautiously ahead of a number of other risk events for global markets, such as the all-important US jobs report on Friday and ongoing Greek negotiations.Stocks to watchThe sales decline at Morrisons, the UK's fourth-largest supermarket chain, worsened in its first quarter, reversing the improving trend seen in the preceding three-month period. Like-for-like (LFL) sales excluding fuel fell by 2.9% in the 13 weeks to 3 May, the grocer revealed on Thursday. This compared with a lesser 2.6% fall in the fourth quarter of the previous financial year, which itself was a dramatic improvement on the 6.3% drop seen in the third quarter.Annual results from BT beat City forecasts as the telecoms group added a record number of new broadband customers in the fourth quarter. Adjusted EBITDA of £6.27bn beat market forecasts of £6.2bn as sales fell 2% in the fourth quarter and for the year as a whole.FTSE 250 datacentres group Telecity, which in February agreed a £1.44bn non-binding bid for US-based Interxion, has received a takeover offer from Equinix at 1145p per share in cash and equity. This bid, at a 27% premium to the closing price on Wednesday, values Telecity at £2.32bn.Ladbrokes chairman Peter Erskine has stepped down, five months after chief executive Richard Glynn left the bookmaker.Annual traffic growth at Easyjet slowed sharply in April as the company was forced to cancel hundreds more flights than last year. The budget airline cancelled 602 flights last month, compared with just 48 in April 2014, "largely driven by air traffic control strikes in France", the company said. As a result, the number of passengers totalled 6.01m in April, up just 3.8% on last year.