(Sharecast News) - London stocks were steady in early trade on Monday, while oil prices edged up as the US and Iran agreed to halt hostilities after exchanging strikes over the weekend.
At 0827 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 10,502.94, while Brent crude was up 0.4% at $72.30 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was 1% higher at $69.92.
The US and Iran announced on Sunday that they would pause hostilities, renew talks and allow commercial vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz freely after military exchanges over the weekend.
Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group said: "The key market message is that investors have not been materially unsettled by the weekend's renewed attacks, because the prospect of diplomacy restarting has again capped the geopolitical risk premium."
He said markets aren't pricing weekend panic, they're pricing de-escalation. "But the all-clear hasn't been sounded," Munnelly cautioned. "Inflation hawks remain on the field; the Strait of Hormuz is still a tail risk one headline away from reopening; and tech leadership has narrowed sharply after last week's volatility - this is a more selective rally, not a broad one. The peace premium has returned to the tape. The question now is whether central banks will let markets keep it."
On home shores, Andy Burnham was set to give his first speech on Monday since launching a bid to become Prime Minister. He was expected to set out a commitment to a "10-year mission" to raise living standards and plans to devolve power away from London. This would involve moving part of his prime ministerial operation to the North.
Investors were also eyeing the release of consumer credit, mortgage approvals and net lending figures for May at 0930 BST.
In equity markets, Lion Finance was the standout gainer on the FTSE 100 after JPMorgan hiked its price target on the stock.
BT Group gained as the company said that it and Verizon Communications have agreed to combine their international operations in a 50:50 joint venture. The two telecoms firms will hold equal voting rights, with Verizon paying BT an equalisation payment of $645m.
The JV - which BT said was designed "specifically for a cloud-first world in the age of AI" - will have around 3,000 customers in more than 180 countries, with combined annual revenues of around $4bn.
Private equity group Bridgepoint surged as said it was buying the real estate arm of US investment firm Kayne Anderson for $1.4bn, as it makes a move into the US property sector. The deal comprises $759m in cash and around 189m newly-issued Bridgepoint shares.
Plus500 advanced as it announced the launch of sports event-based contracts in the US, expanding its prediction markets offering there.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,502.94 -0.05%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,151.60 0.02%
techMARK (TASX) 5,908.46 0.31%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 11,420.00p 4.32%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 7,848.00p 2.78%
Entain (ENT) 587.20p 1.63%
BT Group (BT.A) 196.45p 1.41%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,428.00p 1.38%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 4,946.00p 1.06%
The Sage Group (SGE) 823.80p 0.93%
Halma (HLMA) 3,934.00p 0.92%
Experian (EXPN) 2,528.00p 0.91%
ICG (ICG) 1,666.00p 0.85%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Babcock International Group (BAB) 948.40p -2.39%
3i Group (III) 2,492.00p -1.73%
British Land Company (BLND) 413.80p -1.61%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 475.70p -1.35%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 647.50p -1.22%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,664.00p -1.13%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,093.00p -1.13%
Fresnillo (FRES) 2,827.00p -1.01%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 287.00p -0.96%
LondonMetric Property (LMP) 189.50p -0.94%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 260.80p 11.64%
W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 106.20p 4.53%
Foresight Group Holdings Limited NPV (FSG) 424.00p 3.41%
Globaldata (DATA) 78.95p 2.67%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 717.00p 2.65%
Serco Group (SRP) 226.80p 2.44%
North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 410.00p 2.36%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 98.20p 2.23%
Rank Group (RNK) 105.00p 2.14%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 245.00p 2.08%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) 1,628.00p -2.75%
Genuit Group (GEN) 278.60p -2.52%
Johnson Service Group (JSG) 160.00p -2.44%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 3,771.00p -2.33%
Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 182.00p -2.05%
Vistry Group (VTY) 261.40p -1.80%
Breedon Group (BREE) 305.80p -1.68%
Unite Group (UTG) 521.00p -1.32%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,211.00p -1.30%
International Workplace Group (IWG) 184.50p -1.28%
28.70 (0.27%)
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