Proactive Investors - Stocks called higher despite drop in retail sales.
The FTSE 100 is expected open higher on Tuesday after US markets closed above early lows and despite figures showing a drop in retail sales in January.
Spread betting companies are calling London's lead index up by around 18 points after closing marginally lower at 7,612.86 on Monday.
Figures from the BRC and KPMG showed retail sales grew by 1.2% year-on-year in January, slowing down from growth of 4.2% in January 2023.
In Australia, the central bank decided to leave the cash rate target unchanged at 4.35%, with the interest rate paid on Exchange Settlement balances steady at 4.25%.
"Higher interest rates are working to establish a more sustainable balance between aggregate demand and supply in the economy. Accordingly, conditions in the labour market continue to ease gradually, although they remain tighter than is consistent with sustained full employment and inflation at target," the Reserve Bank of Australia said.
In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.7%, the S&P 500 down 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.2%.
Back in London, and the early focus will be updates from BP (LON:BP) and Virgin Money (LON:VMUK).