London pre-open: Stocks to edge up as gold falls below $5,000 an ounce

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to edge up on Monday as gold prices fell below $5,000 an ounce.

The FTSE 100 was called to open around 17 points higher.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said that part of the move in gold prices "is due to a marginally stronger US dollar".

She said: "Some argue that softer US inflation is taking pressure off the yellow metal - traditionally seen as a hedge against inflation - but I believe that, given gold's high correlation with risky assets over the past few weeks, a retreat in gold could be a sign that appetite across risk assets remains weak this Monday morning."

Monday will mark a relatively quiet start to what will be a busy week, with earnings due from miners Rio Tinto, BHP, Antofagasta, Glencore and Anglo American, while UK jobs data, inflation and retail sales figures will also be eyed.

Figures released earlier by Rightmove showed UK house price growth stalled in February after the strongest increase in over a decade the previous month, though the outlook for demand still remains bright as affordability continues to improve.

The average price of a newly listed home for sale was �368,019 in February, down �12 over the month (-0.0%) following a 2.8% surge in January.

The previous month's jump was the largest-ever increase for a January and the strongest monthly rise since June 2015, as confidence rebounded after taking a hit due to the Autumn Budget.

However, high choice of homes for sale and steadying buyer activity have kept a lid on prices this month.

Nevertheless, asking prices have still seen their strongest start to the year since 2020, even after accounting for January's standstill.

"There are still lots of homes for sale, and buying activity isn't as strong as this time last year, when many buyers were rushing to move before the stamp duty increase in England," said Rightmove's property expert Colleen Babcock.

"So in February, sellers have taken a more cautious approach by holding onto January's gains rather than pushing prices higher, at a time when competition is high and the market is still very price-sensitive."

In corporate news, Beazley said the deadline for Zurich Insurance to make a firm takeover bid has been extended.

Beazley announced earlier this month that the two parties had reached an agreement in principle on the terms of an �8bn takeover by Zurich.

It said on Monday that Zurich has begun a period of confirmatory due diligence and, with the support of the board and management of Beazley, that process is progressing as planned.

"The parties are simultaneously discussing the detailed terms of the transaction and progressing definitive transaction documentation," it said.

Zurich initially had until today to make a firm offer or walk away, but the 'put up or shut up' deadline has now been extended to 1700 GMT on 4 March.

Pinewood Technologies said it was still confident in its long-term prospects after private equity firm Apax Partners withdrew its �575m offer for the automotive service provider on Friday, citing prevailing challenging market conditions.

The company, which offers a cloud-based platform for car dealerships and manufacturers, said it was well-positioned to continue executing its strategy and to achieve medium-term 2028 guidance of underlying EBITDA of �58m - �62m.

Precision engineering group Hunting said it had received positive results from a pilot test of its enhanced oil recovery solution from Buccaneer Energy.

Hunting said Buccaneer Energy, which utilised the solution at its Pine Mills field in East Texas, had reported a 100% uplift in production within the oil wells, with one well reducing its water cut to zero.

Buccaneer now expects to roll out the organic oil recovery technology across other wells within its portfolio.