The FTSE 100 index is seen opening 9 to 25 points higher on Thursday, following a mixed showing on Wall Street and strength in Asia, with miners looking set to build on good gains in the previous session as gold hit fresh record highs.
Market watcher: Shares are expected to rise this morning.
OTHER STORIES
Is this the future for bank charges?
RBS board quit threat over bonuses
Tweet your way to a festive bargain
Are you getting enough for your gold?
1m betting their home on their pension
According to financial bookmakers, the FTSE is seen gaining as much as 0.5%, having closed 15.22 points higher at 5,327.39 on Wednesday.
A rally is excpected across Europe after the Nikkei closed 3.8% higher on the day.
On the UK economics front, monthly CIPS Services PMI data is scheduled for release, with the headline PMI index expected to rise to 57.0 in November, from 56.9 the previous month.
Investors will eye news from the latest European Central Bank Council meeting and weekly US jobless claims numbers will be of interest, especially ahead of the November US employment report, scheduled for release on Friday.
Xstrata will spend $542m to extend the life of its Ernest Henry copper and gold mine in Australia until at least 2024 by shifting to underground mining, the company said on Thursday.
UK banks have a total exposure to crisis-hit Dubai World of roughly three billion pounds, said the Financial Times. The scale has confirmed them as the largest foreign creditor group at the emirate holding company, said the newspaper.
According to bankers and their advisers, Royal Bank of Scotland was the most exposed of the UK lenders, ahead of HSBC Standard Chartered and Lloyds, said the newspaper.
Royal Bank of Scotland has warned that the British government's plans to cap bonus payments to their best investment bankers would result in them leaving for other institutions without such restrictions, said the Guardian.
Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of the British bank, joined a growing number of large banks trading liquefied natural gas on Wednesday, launching its Barclays Capital LNG Services division.
Unilever is considering the sale of its Italian frozen food business, Findus Italy, for up to €800m, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
There will be updates today from Kingfisher, British Airways, Marston's, Ashtead Group, Findel, Halma and The Local Shopping Reit.
