London pre-open: Stocks seen higher as retail sales disappoint

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to gain at the open on Friday as investors mulled a surprise drop in UK retail sales. The FTSE 100 was called to open around 48 points higher.

Figures released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed that retail sales fell 0.3% on the month in December following a downwardly-revised 0.1% increase in November. Economists were expecting a 0.4% jump.

ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach said: "This was driven by a very poor month for food sales, which sank to their lowest level since 2013, with supermarkets particularly affected."

Alex Kerr, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: "Overall, today's release is further evidence that the economy had very little momentum at the end of last year and, at the margin, increases the downside risk to our forecast that the economy avoided a contraction in Q4 and GDP flatlined.

"But looking ahead, we doubt the economy's recent malaise will continue. We expect real household disposable income growth of around 2.3% and improving consumer confidence in 2025 to drive an acceleration in overall consumer spending growth from 1.0% in 2024 to 1.6% in 2025."

In corporate news, automated testing company Spirent Communications said it expected full-year revenues to be lower after a "challenging" year, but reported a strong uptick of order growth in the fourth quarter.

Revenue growth in the fourth quarter and second half of the year was 5%, resulting in full year revenue of around $460m, compared to $474m in 2023, the company said on Friday.

AstraZeneca announced that its Calquence drug has been approved in the US when used alongside chemoimmunotherapy for patients with previously untreated mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Calquence (otherwise known as acalabrutinib), is now the first and only BTK inhibitor - drugs which block activity of the Bruton's tyrosine kinase enzyme - approved for the first-line treatment of MCL in the country.