London pre-open: FTSE expected to open higher

LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open 47 points higher than Wednesday's close of 6,571.19. European equities are tipped to start with gains this morning to pare back losses made following China's currency devaluation. China's state bank devalued the reference rate for their currency again overnight, this time by 1.1%.

London Capital Group night dealer Jonathan Sudaria said though nothing has changed it is more a case of the bears running out of steam.

Elsewhere the European central Bank will release the accounts of last week's monetary policy meeting this afternoon, and US retail data from the is expected later in the day.

Stocks to watch Miner Glencore said it will cut its capital expenditure target for the year and book an impairment charge on the value of its assets in Chad as a result of the sharp decline in oil prices, as it posted a mixed first-half production update.

Anglo-German travel giant Tui Group grew revenues 6.4% and underlying operating profits by 18.6% in the third quarter, also tightening its full year profit growth guidance to 12.5-15%. The terrorist attack on tourists in Tunisia at the end of June resulted in repatriation and cancellation costs of around €10m in the quarter.

Coca-Cola HBC net sales fell 1% as a 4.6% adverse impact from currencies more than offset volume gains. Net sales revenue declined by 1.0%. Comparable EBIT was €219.0m - up 31.2%, leading to a 170 basis point improvement in EBIT margin as favourable input costs, increased volume, benefits from revenue growth management initiatives and cost efficiencies were partly offset by significant adverse movements in currencies; reported EBIT was €199.1m. Net profit was up 31.7% to 125.2m euro In the press Rising unemployment and slower UK pay growth weighed on the pound yesterday as domestic concerns and a slowdown in China pushed back expectations of an interest rate rise well into next year. Sterling slipped against the dollar and the euro after official data showed average weekly earnings, including bonus payments, grew by 2.4% in the three months to the end of June compared with the same period a year ago. This represents a marked slowdown from the 3.2pc growth seen in the three months to May and was well below economists' forecasts of 2.8% growth. - The Daily Telegraph Three foreign traders have been ordered to hand over millions of pounds after the City watchdog won its first lifetime ban against a company for a market abuse technique called 'spoofing'. The Hungary-based gang, along with Da Vinci Invest, a Swiss fund manager, were told by the High Court yesterday to pay £7.6 million in fines and frozen trading profits to the Financial Conduct Authority four years after they were accused of using sophisticated computer trading programmes to move prices on the London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) . - The Times The People's Bank of China (HKSE: 3988-OL.HK - news) sought to dispel fears yesterday of a prolonged fall in the renminbi, intervening to prop up the currency after a shock devaluation spread alarm through globalmarkets. The Chinese currency had fallen by as much as 2 per cent earlier yesterday to a low of 6.45 per dollar, before the authorities stepped in to buttress the renminbi, which rallied 1 per cent in the final 15 minutes of the trading day to 6.38 versus the dollar. - The Financial Times