London pre-open: Stocks called to start the day higher

LONDON (ShareCast) - The top flight index is being called to rise by 0.3% at the start of trading as investors patiently wait for the inevitable news-flow which is expected around today´s meeting of Eurozone finance ministers. Markets do not expect any further aid disbursements to Greece to be forthcoming. Nonetheless, reports out yesterday evening indicated that Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and German chancellor Angela Merkel had been "positive".

"The next eurogroup meeting will take place on 11 May, a day before Greece has to make further loan repayments. It's far more likely that a deal will be reached then, although even that depends on whether Greece has enough money in the kitty to fund it beyond those repayments, in which case this could drag on a while yet," Craig Erlam, Oanda Senior Market analyst, wrote to clients on Friday.

Traders will also be keeping close tabs on the latest reading on Germany´s business confidence index, courtesy of the IFO institute.

Currency markets are relatively calm before the start of trading, with traders said to be in a holding pattern ahead of next week´s US Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan policy meetings.

Stocks to watch The state has reduced its stake Lloyds Banking Group by another 1% to below 21%, the lender said on Friday.

First (Other OTC: FSTC - news) -quarter numbers from Reckitt Benckiser (Xetra: A0M1W6 - news) were better than the market expected, with like-for-like sales from the household goods behemoth up 5%. "A strong and broad-based performance from our consumer health brands continues to deliver growth and outperformance, aided by a strong flu season," said chief executive Rakesh Kapoor.

Drug giant AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) revealed earnings in line with expectations on first quarter revenues down 6% to $6.1bn. On a constant currency basis revenues were flat, with core EPS down 3% to $1.08.

After receiving some takeover interest, BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) confirmed it was pondering a disposal of its US-based manpower and services businesses, which operates in the US intelligence and security (I&S) sector. The company has engaged external advisors to support a strategic assessment of these businesses, it said.

Pearson (Xetra: 858266 - news) chairman Glen Moreno has announced he will step down from the board in the next twelve months after more than nine years in the role. A successor has not yet been identified.