LONDON (ShareCast) - City sources predict the FTSE 100 (FTSE: ^FTSE - news) will open up 19 points from Friday's close of 6,723, which would see it jump past 2007 highs of 6,732 after the US Dow Jones and S&P 500 benchmarks reached fresh record closing prices at the end of last week.
Driving Friday's gains was better-than-expected data, including the release of the University of Michigan consumer confidence index, which surged past expectations of 77.9, rising to 83.7 in May from 76.4 the month before and the Leading Indicators index, which rose 0.6% in April after a 0.2% decline in March, better than the 0.2% increase forecast.
Today day is expected to be a fairly quiet one for economic news on both sides of the Atlantic.
In this morning's UK company news, Randgold Resources, the FTSE 100-listed gold miner, has entered into a $200m unsecured revolving credit facility with HSBC (LSE: HSBA.L - news) and three other banks to be used for general corporate purposes. The terms of the facility, which matures in May 2016, are described by the company as 'favourable', and have an interest rate of LIBOR plus 1.5%.
MITIE Group (Other OTC: MITFY - news) , the FTSE 250 (FTSE: ^FTMC - news) facilities, property and energy management firm, met headline profit forecasts with its full-year report on Monday, though statutory results were hit by an increase in administration expenses and one-off items. The headline profit before tax in the year to March 31st rose 5.4% from £105.4m to £111.1m, in line with the £111.3m consensus forecast. However, after including 'other items', statutory profit before tax dropped 37.8% from £94.5m to £58.8m.
Bacon and sausage supplier Cranswick (LSE: CWK.L - news) reported a robust set of annual results, as pork consumption in the UK continues to grow, and said it is well placed for future growth. Adjusted pre-tax profit rose 8.0% to £49.3m for the year ended March 31st 2013. Reported revenues for the year climbed 7.0% to £875m.
Train and bus operator Firstgroup (LSE: FGP.L - news) has cancelled its final dividend as it restructured its balance sheet and refinanced after announcing its results two days earlier than scheduled.
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