London stocks were set to gain at the open on Tuesday following positive Asian and US sessions, as investors mulled the latest research from the British Retail Consortium.
The FTSE 100 was called to open around 27 points higher, as investors eyed the start of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said the Fed is not expected to move on rates.
"Powell is unlikely to say much more than 'we are watching the data and it tells us to wait before cutting further'. This lack of action is expected to trigger renewed fury from the White House. We could even hear the announcement of who might take over the Fed in the coming months.
"The issue is that the Fed still retains credibility under Jerome Powell, precisely because he has resisted political pressure. The day he is gone, that credibility could come into question - and a loss of faith in the Fed would likely be another tailwind for precious metals."
On home shores, the latest BRC-NIQ shop price monitor showed that shop price inflation spiked in January, confounding expectations for no change.
Shop price inflation was 1.5%, up from 0.7% in December. Consensus had been for inflation to remain at 0.7%.
Prices rose across the board. Non-food inflation edged up 0.3%, in comparison to the previous month's 0.6% decline, while food inflation rose to 3.9% from 3.3%. Within that, fresh food inflation rose to 4.4% from 3.8%, while ambient food prices increased by 3.1%, compared to a 2.5% uplift in December.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, blamed the uplift on higher costs, including energy prices and National Insurance contributions, filtering down to prices.
She continued: "Meat, fish and fruit were particularly affected, also reflecting weak supply and stronger demand.
"It's a challenging time for households. Retailers do what they can to keep prices down in a competitive market, but thin margins and rising costs of government policy make it harder.
"Government must double down on costs in order to support households."
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NIQ, said: "Shoppers are also cautious of spending in January and this will not be helped by continuation of inflation.
"However, there are still savings to be made at the checkout, as some non-food retailers are still on promotion and many food retailers continue to reduce prices on everyday items as a way to drive footfall."
In corporate news, The Sage Group reiterated full-year guidance on the back of a strong first quarter.
Organic revenues at the accountancy software specialist jumped 10% in the three months to December end, to £674m, with growth across all its regions.
As a result, the blue chip said it remained on track to meet full-year targets, including annual organic total revenue growth of 9% or above.
Iconic bootmaker Dr Martens said it expected full-year revenue to be broadly flat as third-quarter sales fell 3.1% year-on-year, with growth in the Americas offset by a challenging market in Europe.
"We are comfortable with market expectations for FY26 profit before tax, which will result in significant year-on-year PBT growth," the company said in a trading statement.
In the year to date, revenue was down 1.8% on a reported basis to £573m.
Specialist finance provider Paragon Banking reiterated its full-year guidance following a "strong" first-quarter operating performance, which saw total lending increase 6.8% to £724m.
Paragon said buy-to-let lending was up 0.4% at £425m, while commercial lending advances surged 17.6% to £423.2m. Net loan balances grew 3.9% to £16.5bn at the quarter end.