Worries over the health of the UK retail sector will make full-year results from B&Q owner Kingfisher PLC (LON:KGF) a key focus on Wednesday.
Ina preview, Graham Spooner, research analyst at The Share Centre noted: "The last update from Kingfisher, a third quarter statement in November, was notable for signs of continued weakness in the French businesses although the company said it remained on track to deliver full-year profit targets."
He added, however: "The shares have recovered strongly since then, boosted by news in February of poor trading at (DIY stores rival) Homebase It will be interesting to see if B&Q benefited or was struck by the same malaise."
The analyst, who presently rates the DIY retailer as a 'hold', also pointed out that Kingfisher and its customers are now gearing up for one of the busiest periods of their year, the Easter weekend.
Otherwise all eyes on Wednesday will be directed across the Atlantic with the US Federal Reserve due to deliver their latest monetary policy decision after the London market close.
There would be few commentators surprised if the Fed announces a 0.25 percentage points increase in US interest rates to the 1.5%-1.75% range on Wednesday after its latest two-day FOMC meeting.
More interest though will be focused on what the new US central bank chair, Jerome Powell has to say about his plans for future hikes at the meeting with rates expected to rise three or four times this year, and maybe twice next year.
With a Bank of England rate decision due on Thursday, the main interest in the latest UK labour market statistics on Wednesday will be on the average earnings data rather than an expected fall in unemployment numbers.
With Tuesday's official data having shown a bigger than expected fall in UK inflation, down to 2.7% in February from 3.0% in the previous month, the BoE will be looking to see if wage growth can climb up towards that level having lagged price increases for a long while.
That could be a trigger for the central bank to raise UK interest rates in the near term, though no moves are expected on Thursday.
Federal Reserve interest rate decision (6.15pm London time)
Finals: Kingfisher PLC (LON:KGF), Accesso Technology Group PLC (LON:ACSO), Alpha Fx Group PLC (LON:AFX), Brave Bison Group PLC (LON:BBSN), Centaur Media PLC (LON:CAU), Cambian Group PLC (LON:CMBN), Ebiquity plc (LON:EBQ), Empiric Student Property PLC (LON:ESP), Ferrexpo PLC (LON:FXPO), IFG Group PLC (LON:IFP), IGas Energy Plc (LON:IGAS), International Public PartnershipsLtd (LON:INPP), Medaphor Group PLC (LON:MED), Personal Group Holdings plc (LON:PGH), Premier Technical Services Group PLC (LON:PTSG), Science in Sport PLC (LON:SIS), Ten Entertainment Group PLC (LON:TEG), Vectura Group PLC (LON:VEC), Xaar PLC (LON:XAR)
Interims: SCS Group PLC (LON:SCS), Softcat PLC (LON:SCT)
Economic data: UK unemployment, average earnings; UK public sector finances; CBI UK industrial trends survey; US existing home sales