LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - The focus on Wednesday will continue to be squarely on Brexit as investors try and second-guess the probability of snap elections being called.
Key in that regard will be whether the government's Withdrawal Bill and programme motion passed muster the night before.

Come Wednesday, that would see the WAB continue to move through committee stage, with MPs likely to continue to scrutinise it line-by-line throughout the day.

However, should the government's motion not be approved, then the various factions might focus their effors on trying to force a general election.

On the corporate front meanwhile, the market spotlight will be on Metro Bank's third quarter trading update as the lender tries to rebuild investors' faith in the franchise following an accounting scandal that saw its shares lose nearly 90% of their value.

"The share price is still down over 85% year to date and even lower from a year ago when it was over £26 a share. The big test for Metro Bank is not whether the worst is behind them, but whether new management can turn around market perceptions of competence, and restore trust at a time when margins in UK bank are already tight, and competition is fierce," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

"The departure of Vernon Hill is a start but it is not necessarily the end as management looks to restore their battered reputation."

Wednesday October 23

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