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London pre-open: Stocks seen lower as Wall St ends off highs
London stocks were set to edge down at the open on Friday after US markets ended off their highs, with results from the likes of RBS and Pearson in focus.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 10 points lower at 7,242.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "European markets had a disappointing session yesterday, while US markets rallied modestly before giving up a good chunk of those gains heading into the close.
"That we haven't seen any sort of follow through from last week's gains should be a bit of a worry and probably speaks to a wider concern that the current down move in stocks may not be quite over."
In corporate news, educational publisher Pearson said full year adjusted operating profit was 9% lower at £576m - at the top end of its upwardly-revised October 2017 guidance range, adjusting for currency movements.
Total underlying revenues declined 2% to £4.5bn due to a decline of 4% in North America partly offset by stabilisation in the core and growth division,
The final dividend was cut to 12p a share from 34p, making a total of 17p a share.
Royal Bank of Scotland clambered back into the black in 2017 for the first time in a decade, even though the taxpayer-owned bank took a hit in the fourth quarter from restructuring, litigation and conduct charges.
Total income of £13.1bn for 2017 was stronger than the £12.96bn City analysts expected and the fourth-quarter loss of £583m led to a full year operating profit of £2.2bn and a profit attributable to shareholders of £752m.
British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group presented its group consolidated results for the year ended 31 December on Friday, reporting a fall in fourth quarter operating profit to 585m before exceptional items, from 620m a year earlier.
The FTSE 100 firm, which also owns Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling, said passenger unit revenue for the quarter was ahead 0.4%, or 2.4% at constant currency. For the year as a whole, operating profit before exceptional items grew 18.9% to 3.02bn.