London pre-open: FTSE set to fall at start of busy week

(Sharecast News) - London's stock markets looked set to open lower on Monday, after a lacklustre session on Wall Street to close out last week. The FTSE 100 was called to open about 37 points lower, having closed up 0.23% on Friday at 7,663.73.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said last week ended on a cautious note after the first earnings from Big Tech companies were "not bad, but not good enough" to further boost an already-impressive rally so far this year.

"This week, the earnings season continues in full swing - 150 S&P 500 companies are due to announce their second quarter earnings throughout this week," she said.

"On the economic calendar, we have a busy agenda this week as well.

"Today, we will be watching a series of flash PMI figures to get a sense of how economies around the world felt so far in July, then important central bank meetings will hit the fan from tomorrow."

Ozkardeskaya noted that the early data showed that both manufacturing and services in Australia remained in the contraction zone, as Japan's manufacturing PMI dropped to a four-month low in July.

"German figures could also disappoint those watching the eurozone numbers."

On the central bank front, the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan are all set to meet this week, with the first two widely expected to announce 25-basis point hikes each.

In equities, telecoms giant Vodafone was in focus as it said first-quarter group service revenue rose 3.7%, helped by its UK operations.

The company reported that revenue for the period came in at €10.7bn, up from €9.5bn a year earlier.

Britain increased by 6.5%, while Germany, Spain and Italy narrowed falls.

It also reiterated its full-year guidance of adjusted EBITDAaL of around €13.3bn and adjusted free cash flow of €3.3bn.

The company added that it had appointed former SAP chief financial officer Luka Mucic to the same role at Vodafone, starting on 1 September.

Elsewhere, GSK's majority-owned subsidiary ViiV Healthcare announced that cabotegravir, a long-acting injectable for HIV prevention, had received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency.

The firm said the milestone was based on compelling results from recent studies which showed its superior efficacy in reducing the risk of sexually acquired HIV-1 compared to daily oral PrEP options.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.