Tuesday 18 February 2014 2:35 am

What you need to know before the open – 18/02

European equities are expected higher today, with investors banking on affirming economic sentiment data, in the form of Germany’s ZEW survey.

Also in focus is UK inflation data at 9.30 this morning.

In Asia, Tokyo stocks jumped 3.1 per cent – their best session since August – after the Bank of Japan confirmed it’s keeping its ultra-loose monetary policy in place. It also surprised investors by announcing it’s doubling the size of its loan support programme, and extending it by a year.

Corporate news

The world’s largest miner, BHP Billiton, beat forecasts for 2013, with profit for the first-half soaring 31 per cent. The company also hinted at the possibility of a share buyback in August, but stayed cautious on Chinese growth.

In the UK

In December, the UK inflation rate, measured by the consumer price index, fell to two per cent – the firs time since November 2009 when it came in at 1.9 per cent.

Analysts expect it remained at two per cent in January year-on-year, while the month-on-month number could show a fall of 0.5 per cent.

Yesterday, Rightmove numbers showed average UK house prices above the three per cent stamp duty threshold of £250,000.

In Europe

The ongoing Eurogroup meeting is set to carry on discussions about the European Stability Mechanism, following the announcement yesterday that the troika will return to Athens in the next few days.

Data in focus