MARKET COMMENT: UK Stocks Set For Higher Open Ahead Of Services PMI

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are set to open higher Wednesday, reversing Tuesday's losses ahead of the release of the final UK service sector PMI for October, as well as the same data from across the eurozone.

Futures indicate that the FTSE 100 will open 36 points higher at 6,490.

Stock indices across Europe and the UK fell on Tuesday as the EU Commission slashed its economic growth forecasts amid concerns about deficits and debts. Oil stocks weighed particularly on the London market as the price of Brent crude fell to a fresh four-year low. Oil prices remain close to that low ahead of the market open Wednesday, with Brent quoted at USD82.11 per barrel.

US stocks went on to put in a mixed performance, with the DJIA closing up 0.1%, the S&P 500 down 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.3%. The US midterm elections Tuesday saw the Republicans take control of the Senate away from the Democrats. US political commentators say that the change will make it very difficult for Democrat President Barack Obama to pass any legislation during his last two years in office, given that the Republicans already control the House of Representatives.

It's also been a mixed session in Asia Wednesday, with the Nikkei the only major market showing any gains, up 0.4% as the governor of the Bank of Japan maintained a doveish tone in a speech overnight after the decision to expand the bank's monetary easing programme last week. The Hang Seng continues lower, however, down 0.6%, with the Shanghai Composite down 0.3%.

China's services sector growth slowed from the previous month in October, results of a survey by Markit and HSBC showed overnight. The index fell to 52.9 in October from 53.5 in September.

"Following a poor manufacturing PMI release over the weekend, this further compounds the view that China is struggling to move forward in a convincing way following a slowdown earlier this year," says Alpari research analyst Joshua Mahony.

Service sector PMI data will continue to be in focus through the morning, with UK data out at 0930 GMT. A print of 58.5 is expected for October, which would be down from 58.7 in September, but would be a relatively strong reading of the sector of the economy that accounts for about two thirds of UK GDP.

The Italian and French numbers are out at 0845 GMT and 0850 GMT, respectively, with both countries expected to remain in contraction in October. The German print at 0855 GMT is expected to unchanged from the recent flash estimate of 54.8, with the eurozone number also expected unchanged from the flash of 52.4.

Eurozone retail sales data is also due at 1000 GMT and is expected to show growth of 1.2% year-on-year in September, which would be slower than the 1.9% recorded in August. On a monthly basis, sales are expected to have fallen by 0.8% September, reversing most of August's 1.2% growth.

Later in the afternoon, the US ADP employment change report will provide the usual warm-up to Friday's non-farm payroll data. the ADP report is expected to show an additional 220,000 jobs in October, which would be an improvement from 213,000 in September. US service sector PMI data is also due.

From the UK corporate calendar Wednesday, high-street retailer Marks & Spencer has continued its trend of improving food sales but falling clothing sales, with like-for-like clothing sales down 2.2% in the recent half year, while like-for-like food sales were up 0.2%. Overall, the group's pretax profit was slightly down, to GBP279.4 million in the first half from GBP280.6 million in the same period the previous year.

Marks & Spencer was recently overtaken by Next as the UK's biggest clothing retailer, and the differing fortunes are reflected in the relative performance of their shares, with Next up 17% year-to-date, while M&S is down 7%.

Also on the wire Wednesday, interim management statements from Meggitt, Alent, Old Mutual, JD Wetherspoon, Drax Group, and Esure, as well as first half numbers from FirstGroup.

By Jon Darby; jondarby@alliancenews.com; @jondarby100

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