London close: FTSE ends up as banks rally; Brent tops $106 a barrel

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose on Monday, with banks pacing the advance, as Brent crude topped $106 a barrel after another Houthi attack on a Saudi airport over the weekend and after Ukraine said Russia had violated the energy ceasefire declared by President Donald Trump.

The FTSE 100 closed up 1% at 10,656.28, while Brent crude was up 1.8% at $106.60 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was 1.9% higher at $93.57.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "Relief from rising oil prices is only temporary these days. Trump's deal with Putin was only ever going to be a modest sticking plaster. More attacks on tankers and an escalating war in Saudi Arabia spells major trouble for economies and markets.

"With Brent crude futures at five-month highs the pain continues to be felt by consumers, but with his party trailing so badly in the polls there seems no incentive for the US president to try and make a deal with Iran."

Looking ahead to the rest of the week, US quarterly bank earnings will start rolling in on Tuesday, with JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs all slated to report.

In UK equity markets, banks were on the rise, with Lloyds, HSBC, Standard Chartered, NatWest and Barclays all higher.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Banks have faced headwinds in recent weeks as investors feared a steady increase in interest rates could make it too expensive for many businesses and consumers to borrow money, thereby curbing growth opportunities for the sector.

"Should energy-related inflationary pressures not be as intense as previously feared, it could lead to the Bank of England avoiding big interest rate hikes over the coming year. Markets are currently pricing in four quarter point hikes by next July."

HSBC was in focus following a Bloomberg report the bank will phase out fixed-pay allowances for its senior staff and instead hand out a greater proportion of its compensation in the form of bonuses, becoming the latest UK lender to switch to Wall Street-style remuneration to better align with performance. According to a memo seen by Bloomberg, HSBC will switch to the new pay system at the start of 2028.

Standard Life rose after an upgrade to 'outperform' from 'sector perform' at RBC Capital Markets.

On the downside, Hays tumbled as it reported a 3% decline in first-quarter like-for-like net fees. Fellow recruiter Michael Page also fell.

Pennon Group tumbled after Deutsche Bank downgraded the shares to 'hold' from 'buy' and slashed the price target to 380p from 550p as it said the near-term buy case now looks increasingly difficult for several reasons.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,656.28 0.99%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 24,328.06 0.47%

techMARK (TASX) 6,175.11 0.77%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Convatec Group (CTEC) 230.60p 4.82%

Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 12,720.00p 3.25%

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 104.00p 2.36%

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 1,428.40p 2.34%

Diageo (DGE) 1,673.00p 2.11%

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,044.00p 1.90%

Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,038.00p 1.81%

Haleon (HLN) 354.80p 1.78%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 2,159.00p 1.74%

NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 653.60p 1.71%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Informa (INF) 874.00p -2.41%

WPP (WPP) 378.60p -1.89%

IG Group Holdings (IGG) 976.50p -1.86%

Vodafone Group (VOD) 116.70p -1.39%

3i Group (III) 2,398.00p -0.79%

Kingfisher (KGF) 319.10p -0.59%

ICG (ICG) 1,799.00p -0.50%

easyJet (EZJ) 677.40p -0.38%

Babcock International Group (BAB) 910.20p -0.33%

Bunzl (BNZL) 2,730.00p -0.29%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Globaldata (DATA) 63.10p 6.41%

HGCapital Trust (HGT) 379.50p 3.69%

RTW Biotech Opportunities Ltd (RTW) 2.30p 3.60%

Amaroq Ltd. Npv (DI) (AMRQ) 121.00p 3.42%

Harbour Energy (HBR) 290.60p 3.27%

Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 667.00p 3.17%

Cranswick (CWK) 5,140.00p 3.11%

Applied Nutrition (APN) 281.50p 3.02%

BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 431.00p 2.86%

Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 535.00p 2.69%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hays (HAS) 56.00p -12.84%

AEP Plantations (AEP) 176.60p -10.99%

Michael Page (PAGE) 194.00p -8.49%

Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 2.27p -3.32%

Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 643.50p -3.16%

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 370.00p -2.89%

Trainline (TRN) 204.00p -2.58%

ASOS (ASC) 455.50p -2.25%

SSP Group (SSPG) 176.30p -2.22%

VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. (VOF) 410.50p -1.79%