London open: Miners pace the gains as metals prices rise

(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged up in early trade on Monday, with miners pacing the gains, as investors mulled the latest house price figures from Rightmove.

At 0845 BST, the FTSE 100 was 0.2% firmer at 10,776.00, while Brent crude was down 0.1% at $88.48 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was off 0.5% at $81.96.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: "Investors are largely shrugging off the consequences of a renewed surge in hostilities in the Middle East and are instead focusing on hopes the Fed will keep interest rates on hold for longer. The dollar has slipped back against a basket of currencies, which have helped give a leg up to metals given they are priced in the currency. The commodity boost is giving the FTSE 100 some useful momentum, even as investors keep their eyes on the inflationary risks from the Middle East crisis.

"Copper prices in particular are rising higher on expectations of constrained supply and resilient demand, given how sought after the metal is across multiple sectors from electrification to AI. The build-out of data centres is adding to the appetite for copper, but so are power grids, electric vehicles and the wider energy transition. However, supply can't be switched on at the flick of a switch, and major new mining projects can take a decade or more to permit, finance and build, while existing operations are vulnerable to everything from extreme weather to ageing infrastructure."

Meanwhile, developments in the Middle East remained in focus as the US-Iran ceasefire was set to expire.

"Israel struck Lebanon over the weekend, while the US is preparing new sanctions on Iran and the interim US-Iran ceasefire expires today," Danske Bank said. "Talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz show little progress, though reported crude shipments by producers in the Middle East continued through the waterway and Iran-Oman talks appear to be progressing without US participation."

On home shores, property portal Rightmove downgraded its forecast for asking prices this year as it reported a drop in August property prices.

Prices fell 1% on the year following a 0.4% decline in July. This marked the largest annual price fall since December 2023. On the month, prices were down 2% in August following a 1% fall a year earlier. This marked the largest August price fall since 2018.

The average price of a home stood at £364,999, versus £372,359 last month.

The figures also revealed an increasingly divided regional picture for property price growth, with the year-on-year difference between the northern and southern regions of England particularly stark. Prices in the north of England were up by 1.5% versus a year ago, while prices in the south of England were down by 1.8%, with the largest decline seen in London, where prices fell 3.1% annually.

Rightmove said the capital is seeing the largest choice of homes since 2010, leading to "fierce" competition among sellers to tempt buyers in the costliest part of the country.

Rightmove downgraded its national average 2026 price growth forecast to between flat and a 2% decline, having previously expected a 2% increase.

Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove, said: "This month's larger-than-usual August price drop is a sign that many sellers are recognising the reality of the market and pricing much more competitively from day one. Buyers have the widest choice of homes for sale at this time of year in more than a decade, so standing out on price for the right reasons is hugely important.

"While no seller likes to come to market lower than they might have hoped, Rightmove analysis shows that those who price realistically are statistically proven to be giving themselves the strongest chance of finding a buyer and successfully completing a move. One tactic some sellers are using when considering lower offers on their home, is to also make a lower offer themselves on their onwards purchase, to see if they can make up the difference."

In equity markets, heavily-weighted miners rose in tandem with metals prices, with Antofagasta, Glencore, Anglo American and Rio Tinto all up.

Telecom Plus - which trades as Utility Warehouse - gained as it said it was confident of meeting its guidance for FY27 and of delivering on its long-term goal of £175m of adjusted pre-tax profit by FY31 following an "encouraging" start to the year.

Drugmaker AstraZeneca advanced as it discontinued one Phase III study for a cancer drug, while reporting strong survival rates from another.