London pre-open: FTSE seen higher after Nikkei surges

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to gain at the open on Monday as Japan's Nikkei surged nearly 4% after prime minister Takaichi secured a landslide victory in Sunday's general election.

The FTSE 100 was called to open around 48 points higher.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said: "She pulled off a stunning victory, with her ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) scoring a historic landslide and securing a two-thirds supermajority in the powerful lower house of parliament - even more if you include its coalition partner.

"That gives her party its most dominant position in decades and a strong mandate to push through an expansive fiscal agenda, particularly benefiting defence and technology. This likely helps explain why South Korea's Kospi rebounded nearly 4% today. Still, the tech rebound could face speed bumps ahead.

"Across Japanese markets, JGB yields jumped at the open, with the 10-year returning to the highest levels in a week on fiscal spending concerns. The Nikkei and Topix also jumped at the open, both hitting fresh record highs on growth and fiscal optimism, but the Nikkei later gave back most early gains - likely reflecting rising yield pressure and concerns that growth may come at a cost. The Topix, by contrast, is holding on to gains, up more than 2% at the time of writing."

In UK corporate news, NatWest said it was buying UK wealth manager Evelyn Partners from funds advised by Permira and Warburg Pincus for �2.7bn and launching a new �750m share buyback.

The bank said the deal would increase fee income by 20% pre-revenue synergies. Evelyn Partners has �69bn of assets under management.

Ocado is reportedly planning to cut up to 1,000 jobs, or 5% of its global headcount, as part of a renewed cost-cutting drive after a bruising year for its automated warehouse business.

According to The Times, talks are still in their early stages and a final decision has yet to be made.

One source said an announcement could come as soon as this month and that they expected the majority of the cuts to be in the UK-based head office, including technology roles alongside some back office staff across legal, finance and human resources.

Telecommunications firm Vodafone said that its African subsidiary, Vodacom Group, had confirmed Vodafone Egypt's participation in a multiyear investment programme led by Egypt's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.

Vodafone said the initiative covers spectrum in the 1,800MHz and 3,500MHz bands, as well as the renewal of existing 2,600MHz spectrum. Payment will be made over four annual instalments, starting with $100m in FY26.