FTSE 100 preview: Index seen lower as oil retreats

The UK benchmark index looks set to open lower this morning, ending this week’s winning streak, pressured by a fall in oil. On the corporate front, Tesco (LON:TSCO) is scheduled to update investors on its interim performance.

IG’s opening calls suggest that the FTSE 100 will start the session 0.12 percent lower at 7,459 points. Reuters reports that oil has retreated caution that a rally that lasted for most of the third quarter would not extend through the last three months of the year. In the US, however, stocks surged last night, building on the previous sessions’ gains.

“I think this rally is probably going to extend itself,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial, as quoted by CNBC. “There are a lot of challenging factors out there, but equities seem to brush that aside.” Asian shares meanwhile have been mixed this morning, ahead of a policy decision by the Bank of India.

In the UK, the FTSE 100 added 29.27 points to end the session 0.39 percent higher at 7,468.11, finding support in a weaker pound, with sterling retreating following downbeat construction data and amid uncertainty over the Brexit negotiations.

The macroeconomic calendar includes the UK services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for September, due out at 09:30 BST, and IG reports that the index is expected to have fallen to 53, from 53.2. In the US, the nation’s ISMI non-manufacturing PMI for September is scheduled to be released at 15:00 BST.

In company news, Tesco is expected to post a rise in sales and restore its payout to shareholders when it posts its interims this morning. Outside the FTSE 100, investors will also focus on Royal Mail Group (LON:RMG) which faces the threat of its first strike since privatisation, having failed to agree a deal with a union over pensions.