London pre-open: Stocks seen muted ahead of GDP data

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set for a muted open on Friday ahead of the release of the latest UK GDP figures, with corporate news likely to be sparse as the pre-Christmas lull kicks in .
The FTSE 100 was called to open three points lower at 7,570.

CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "The final reading of UK third-quarter GDP will be posted at 9.30am (UK time). On a quarter-on-quarter basis and on a yearly basis, the reports are expected to be 0.3% and 1% respectively."

Public sector net borrowing figures are also due at the same time.

"Public sector net borrowing is tipped to drop to £5.6 billion from the £10.5 billion registered in October," said Madden.

On the political front, MPs were set to vote later in the day on whether to back Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal.

In corporate news, Greencoat UK Wind said it was buying the Windy Rig and Twentyshilling wind farms from Statkraft UK for £104m.

Construction of the Scottish wind farms is expected to start shortly, with the acquisition targeted to complete in the second quarter of 2021 and third quarter of 2021 respectively, once each wind farm is fully operational, the company said in a statement.

LondonMetric Property said it had sold two mega box and two regional distribution warehouses, in three deals, for a combined £145.3m as it moved to cut its exposure to lower income growth assets.

The company said it had sold a mega warehouse in Newark to an unnamed international investor for £80.8 million, reflecting a net interest yield (NIY) of 5.1%, two distribution assets in Doncaster to an overseas buyer for £51.2m and a regional distribution warehouse in Rotherham to a global investor for £13.3m.