LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Stocks are set to give back some of the week´s ahead of the a fresh reading on economic growth in the first quarter and against the backdrop of today´s meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors in Sendai, Japan.
As of 06:54BST the Footsie was being called to start the session lower by ten points from Wednesday´s closing level of 6,262.85.

Front month Brent crude futures were 0.758% higher at $50.12 per barrel with cable in a holding pattern near the previous session´s best levels, trading at 1.4707.

In parallel, dollar/yen is off by 0.43% to 109.72.

To take note of, some market participants have sounded a skeptical note regarding the staying power of the recent rally in equities.

"[Thursday´s weaker start] appears to just be a case of profit taking from traders following what has been an unusually positive couple of days when compared with the rest of the month, which has been characterised by indecision and tight trading ranges. Given that we have two major risk events for the markets in the coming weeks -EU referendum in the UK and possible rate hike from the Fed - I do wonder though whether this rally has the legs to build significantly on the moves of the last couple of days," Craig Erlam, Senior Market Analyst at Oanda said.

Gains in crude oil are coming despite unconfirmed reports that Saudi Aramco is set to raise production from its Shaybah field from 750,000 barrels per day to 1.0m b/d.

Speeches from two Fed speakers are eagerly awaited, especially that from Fed Governor Jerome Powell scheduled for 16:00 BST.

Overnight, the president of the Federal Reserve bank of Dallas, Robert Kaplan, argued in favour of a rate hike "in the near future" but not necessarily at its mid-June meeting, so long as the economy evolved as expected.

He also said the risk of Brexit would be "a factor" at the Fed´s 15 June policy meeting, Market News International reported.

On that note, the results of the latest Ashcroft poll show that 65% of those surveyed expected the 'Remain' camp to prevail versus the 35% who expected the opposite result.

ONS is set to release its second reading on first quarter gross domestic product at 09:30 BST alongside the latest lending data from BBA.

A raft of companies are set to go ex-dividend today, including Carnival, DCC, Whitbread, Amec Foster Wheeler and Inchcape.

Slight rise in full-year div at United Utilities

United Utilities saw underlying profits drop 9% over the twelve months ending on 31 March to reach £604.1m, even as revenues edged up from £1,720.2m to £1,730m. The company declared a final dividend of 25.64p per share, taking the total for the year to 38.45p, for an increase of 2% - in line with its payout policy.

Six international oil firms including BP and Royal Dutch Shell Plc have tabled bids to operate Qatar's biggest offshore oil field, Reuters reported citing two people familiar with the matter.

Pets at Home reported an increase in pre-tax profit for the year as revenue grew and the company expressed confidence over its outlook. For the 53 weeks to the end of March, statutory pre-tax profit edged up to £92.1m from £90.2m on revenue of £793.1m, up from £777.8m. Meanwhile, group like-for-like revenue grew 2.1% compared with 4.2% growth in the same period last year.

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