China factory growth lifts mood; Imperial Tobacco issues update-China

The FTSE 100 is forecast to open up 10-20 points, tracking a recovery from lows on Wall Street and helped by better-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data.
London's blue-chip index closed 10.52 points higher at 5,681.61 yesterday, notching up an advance of 2 per cent for January as a whole, the best performance for three months.
'Since bottoming at 5,075.20 on November 25, the FTSE gone on a nice rally, but throughout the move the market has found time to top and retrace. This "backing and filling" action has helped form main bottoms at 5,328.70 and 5,583.50,' said James A. Hyerczyk, analyst at Autochartist.
'Each time a bottom was formed, the trend remained up and the market followed through with a new high. This was a sign of value-based buying. In other words, traders were more interested in buying the breaks rather than chasing the rallies,' Hyerczyk added.
U.S. blue chips closed down 0.2 per cent yesterday, rallying from session lows seen around London's close but still depressed by weaker-than-expected U.S. economic reports that surprised investors after a stream of positive data in recent months.
Asian stock markets also struggled overnight as the weaker U.S. data offset the upbeat Chinese manufacturing surveys.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.7 per cent in a volatile session, while Japan's Nikkei average bucked the regional trend to close up 0.1 per cent.
China's factory sector expanded slightly in January, confounding expectations for a contraction and fuelling hopes the world's second-biggest economy will avoid a hard landing.
China's official purchasing managers' index rose to 50.5 in January from 50.3 in December, beating market expectations of 49.5 as new orders rose to a three-month high. A reading above 50 signals expansion and one below indicates contraction.
A similar HSBC survey showed the sector contracting the least in three months, further backing the view that a downturn in manufacturing may be bottoming out as the government adopts modest measures to support growth.
Brent crude rose above $111 a barrel, while London copper prices edged lower.
Eurozone debt concerns will likely continue to be a drag on overall sentiment as markets await a restructuring deal between Greece and its bond-holders - seen as essential to avoid a messy default.
Greece must accelerate structural reforms and slow down on the deficit, the chief of the IMF's inspection team for Greece Poul Thomsen was quoted as saying by a Greek newspaper on Wednesday.
On the economic front, data from lender Nationwide showed that British house prices unexpectedly fell for the second month in a row in January.
The monthly Markit/CIPS British manufacturing index is due out later and forecast to rise to 50.0 up from 49.6 in December.