London pre-open: Stocks to bounce despite Greek default on IMF loan

UK stocks are expected to bounce off a five-month low on Wednesday despite Greece becoming the first developed economy to default on a repayment to the IMF.City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open 42 points higher than Tuesday's close of 6,520.98, its lowest finish since 12 January.The IMF on Tuesday confirmed that Greece had not made the deadline to repay €1.6bn and declared the country "in arrears". IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said Greece can now only receive further funding from the global lender once the arrears are cleared.Athens handed a last-minute proposal on Tuesday, requesting a new two-year bailout programme from the European Stability Mechanism to help pay €29.15bn in debt due between 2015 and 2017. Eurozone finance ministers held a teleconference call on Tuesday evening but dismissed Greece's offer.Dealer Jonathan Sudaria from London Capital Group said: "Now that the inevitable has occurred, it looks as though markets are taking solace in having some mild form of certainty"."However, don't take todays start as a sign of a turn around, more the start of a consolidation period in the run up the referendum," he said.Wednesday's session is likely to be busy in terms of data, with manufacturing purchasing managers' indices (PMIs) due out in China, the UK, Eurozone and US, along with the ADP US employment report and a barrage of other economic indicators Stateside.Overnight, the Chinese government's 'official' manufacturing PMI was unchanged at 50.2 in June, missing the 50.4 estimate, while the non-manufacturing PMI rose to 53.8 from 53.2.Stocks to watchProfits in the first half of the year at Serco were flat compared to the previous year but "a little better" than predicted, though management have not altered their expectations for the full year. A trading update from the 250 company indicated that, despite helpful currency movements, revenues will be down roughly 15% to not less than £1.7bn, with trading profits flat at not less than £45m.Pub group Greene King reported record retail revenue in its full-year results, although profit fell as a result of lower like-for-like sales and the impact of the disposal of 275 pubs to Hawthorn Leisure. Retail revenue for the 52 weeks to 3 May 2015 came in at £1bn, up from £963m last year, while total group revenue came in at £1.32bn from £1.3bn in 2014.