London midday: FTSE nudges up amid trade deal hopes; HSBC falls

(Sharecast News) - London stocks had nudged higher by midday on Monday at the start of what promises to be a busy week, amid hopes of a trade deal between the US and China.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 9,650.46.

US president Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping are due to meet in South Korea on Thursday to discuss trade matters.

On Sunday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interviews with NBC: "I believe that we have the framework for the two leaders to have a very productive meeting for both sides."

Meanwhile, Trump told reporters on Air Force One on the way to Japan from Malaysia: "I've got a lot of respect for President Xi and I think we're going to come away with a deal."

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Optimism about the potential for a US-China trade agreement was helping to create a cautiously positive mood in markets at the start of the week.

"In the UK market, the mining sector moved higher, bar the precious metal contingent who were hit by lower gold prices, although negative news for index heavyweight HSBC acted as a drag on the FTSE 100.

"A milder than expected reading of US inflation at the end of last week also proved supportive to sentiment. Although investor confidence may be tested during a busy week for corporate news across the Atlantic, including earnings from the likes of Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Meta."

Investors were also eyeing policy announcements from the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank later in the week.

On home shores, a survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed that retail sales fell again in October amid weak confidence and Budget concerns.

The CBI's retail sales volume balance was -27 this month, versus -29 in September, with sales expected to fall at a faster pace in November.

Sales for the time of year were judged to be "poor", with a balance of -15, down from -13 in September.

A balance is the weighted difference between the percentage of firms reporting an increase and those reporting a decrease.

CBI principal economist Martin Sartorius said: "The retail sector remains in a prolonged downturn, with October marking the thirteenth consecutive month of falling annual sales volumes. Firms reported that consumer confidence remains poor, compounded by elevated caution ahead of next month's Autumn Budget. Weak demand conditions were also reflected in further sales declines across wholesaling and motor trades.

"Persistent uncertainty ahead of the Autumn Budget is deepening the strain on retailers and other distribution firms that are still grappling with the effects of last year's fiscal decisions. To help rebuild confidence and encourage growth, the Chancellor should reaffirm her commitment to no further business tax hikes in November. Additionally, the government should rethink the Employment Rights Bill to ensure that it does not put undue constraints on flexible working, which could particularly impact young people who often look to retail for their first jobs."

In equity markets, heavily-weighted miners were among the best performers on the FTSE 100 amid rising copper prices, with Glencore, Antofagasta and Anglo American all up.

GSK gained after saying it had bought the worldwide rights from French biotech firm Syndivia to develop and sell a treatment for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Elsewhere, Trustpilot rallied after an initiation at 'outperform' by RBC Capital Markets.

Goodwin shot higher as the engineering firm said it expected to at least double annual profits on the back of a strong order book and that it would also pay a special one-off interim dividend of 532p a share.

HSBC fell after saying it will take a $1.1bn impairment charge in its third-quarter results after losing an appeal in a long-standing lawsuit in Luxembourg related to Bernard Madoff's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

HSBC Securities Services Luxembourg is defending a claim brought by Herald Fund SPC for the restitution of securities and cash, but was denied an appeal in respect of the securities restitution claim.

The $1.1bn provision, which was announced just one day before its quarterly results, will also dent the bank's CET1 capital ratio by 15 basis points.

Precious metals miner Fresnillo and gold miners Hochschild and Endeavour all lost their shine as gold prices fell back amid improving risk appetite.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,650.46 0.05%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,531.02 0.01%

techMARK (TASX) 5,584.95 0.00%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 353.05p 2.02%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,445.50p 1.44%

Legal & General Group (LGEN) 244.00p 1.37%

NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 580.00p 1.33%

Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,397.00p 1.23%

Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,148.00p 1.19%

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,311.50p 1.16%

Weir Group (WEIR) 2,990.00p 1.08%

GSK (GSK) 1,636.50p 1.02%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,703.00p 1.01%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 2,118.00p -4.25%

Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 18,235.00p -3.34%

Diageo (DGE) 1,769.50p -2.29%

Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 41.42p -1.25%

Entain (ENT) 814.40p -1.24%

Croda International (CRDA) 2,975.00p -1.16%

Mondi (MNDI) 841.60p -1.13%

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 993.20p -1.08%

WPP (WPP) 357.40p -1.02%

LondonMetric Property (LMP) 194.90p -1.02%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Chemring Group (CHG) 608.00p 5.56%

W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 96.00p 3.90%

Trustpilot Group (TRST) 219.60p 2.71%

Playtech (PTEC) 292.00p 2.46%

Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,956.00p 2.19%

Ninety One (N91) 233.20p 2.19%

AO World (AO.) 107.40p 1.90%

Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 458.00p 1.78%

4Imprint Group (FOUR) 3,360.00p 1.66%

AJ Bell (AJB) 551.50p 1.57%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 331.40p -4.72%

THG (THG) 46.24p -3.06%

Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 139.50p -2.72%

Endeavour Mining (EDV) 3,098.00p -2.52%

Hays (HAS) 60.10p -2.20%

CMC Markets (CMCX) 215.50p -2.05%

C&C Group (CDI) (CCR) 136.40p -2.01%

Ocado Group (OCDO) 241.20p -1.91%

Discoverie Group (DSCV) 590.00p -1.34%

Victrex plc (VCT) 665.00p -1.34%