LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks are called to open slightly higher Tuesday. Prior to the open, Unilever and SABMiller have released earnings and trading statement in line with expectations.
Meanwhile, trading volumes are expected to return to normal, after dipping Monday, as Wall Street re-opens following the Martin Luther King Day holiday.
Both IG and CMC Markets indicate the FTSE 100 to open higher at approximately 6,855 points.
The International Monetary Fund is expected to release an update to its World Economic Outlook Tuesday.
Sky News reported Monday that the IMF's projection for UK growth is set to be increased for the second time in six months, lifting its 2014 forecast to 2.4% from 1.9%.
Meanwhile, "The IMF assumed global growth would accelerate to 3.6% in 2014 compared with 2.9% in 2013," says Carl Paraskevas, senior international economist at Lloyds Bank.
Elsewhere, the latest German and European ZEW surveys for January are scheduled to be released at 1000 GMT.
"If past performance is anything to go by a positive number will probably give markets some upward momentum, and it seems unlikely that the number will disappoint given that markets are at multi-year highs," says Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
However, "having said that, some of the earnings data over the past week or two hasn?t exactly been inspiring and since the last survey was done the Fed has begun its tapering programme," he warns.
Economists expect German economic sentiment to improve to 63.7, from 62 in December, while the European number is expected to rise to 70.2, from 68.3 in the previous month.
Also in the data calendar, the UK's CBI quarterly industrial trends survey is released at 1100 GMT, ahead of the US Redbook index at 1355 GMT.
In the corporate calendar, FTSE 250-listed Intermediate Capital Group, Carphone Warehouse and PZ Cussons have all released interim management statements. Cairn Energy has released an operational update report, African Barrick Gold has released its fourth quarter results, and Polymetal International has provided fourth quarter production results. Blue-chip SABMiller has released its third quarter trading statement.
Meanwhile, Unilever has released its 2013 earnings report, which has come in slightly better than expected. The company reported that full-year sales rose by 4.3%, slightly ahead of the 4.2% expected, while core EPS was up 3% at EUR1.58, beating expectations of EUR1.52. Despite this, full-year revenue came in slightly lower than expected at EUR49.8 billion, marginally behind analysts' guidance of EUR49.97 billion.
By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp
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