The London stock market would look for a lift this week amid a slew of big company results and with crucial economic data to be released both sides of the Atlantic, analysts said. The-FTSE 100 index of leading London shares closed at 4,971.8 points on Friday, up 85.3, or 1.75 percent, from the previous week. "There is fairly important data out of United States at the end of this week, gross domestic product (GDP) in particular," said economist Jeremy Batstone, of Charles Stanley. "That might very well weigh on global investors' minds in the near term." The US data for the first quarter, published Thursday, comes a day after Britain's GDP for the same period is released.
British GDP "is going to show that activity has slowed marginally over the first quarter. The expectation is that the Treasury forecast of 3.0-3.5 percent is not going to be met", Batstone said.
A large number of British blue chips unveil results this week, including annual numbers from Britain's biggest mobile phone giant Vodafone on Tuesday.
Vodafone "is such a substantial stock in the index by weighting that a good result can turn the (FTSE) index itself", added Batstone.
Other big companies releasing annual results include clothing-to-food retailer Marks and Spencer, fashion group Burberry, energy group Scottish Power and publisher Emap - all on Tuesday.
Meanwhile first-quarter figures are out from Kesa Electricals on Wednesday, Kingfisher and British bank Barclays on Thursday, and from no-frills airline easyJet on Tuesday.
But the FTSE 100 index of leading shares would likely remain in the 4,800-5,000 region, Batstone added.
Meanwhile, investors would seek to hedge their bets and remain with solid defensive shares, said Graham Secker, strategist at US banking group Morgan Stanley.
"The current macro environment favours defensive stocks" like food producers, drinks, tobacco, healthcare equipment makers, pharmaceuticals and utilities sectors.
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