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LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks made a strong start to the week, with a softer pound supporting the FTSE 100, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 was lifted by news of a potential tie-up between OneSavings Bank and Charter Court Financial Services. The FTSE 100 index was 39.81 points higher, or 0.6%, at 7,144.12 midday Monday. The FTSE 250 was up 25.39 points, or 0.1%, at 19,073.06, while the AIM All-Share index was up 0.4% at 908.64.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.4% at 12,130.04. The Cboe UK 250 was flat at 17,046.22, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was broadly unchanged at 11,085.19.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 0.2% and 0.3% respectively."Friday's bounce in risk-assets has been continued to a degree in European markets, although continental Europe has barely budged, and it is the UK stock market that is doing most of the heavy lifting," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.This comes as UK Prime Minister Theresa May battles to save her Brexit strategy amid warnings she is heading for another crushing defeat in Tuesday's crunch Commons vote.Tory Brexiteers said rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement was "inevitable" unless the prime minister was able to secure significant changes to the Northern Ireland backstop."Technical" talks between officials took place in Brussels over the weekend, although a Downing Street source said the negotiations were "deadlocked".Some senior Conservatives said on Sunday that the PM should postpone the "meaningful vote" rather than risk another damaging reverse.Instead she was being urged to table a "conditional" motion setting out the terms for dealing with the backstop issue which Parliament would be prepared to accept.With less than three weeks to Brexit day on March 29 - when Britain is due to leave the EU - any delay would raise renewed questions as to whether there was any way she could get her deal through the Commons.May has said if she loses the vote on Tuesday, there will be further votes on Wednesday on whether the UK should leave with no-deal and on Thursday on whether it should seek an extension to the Article 50 withdrawal process.Given the likely volatility that lies ahead this week, "it is not surprising to see the pound drop further", said IG's Beauchamp. The pound was quoted at USD1.2995 at midday on Monday, versus USD1.3000 late Friday. A week ago, the pound traded above the USD1.32 mark. "The follow-on effect has been to burnish the FTSE 100's performance so far today, though why anyone is desperate to rush into UK assets this week is something of a mystery," he added.In the US, stocks are called for a mixed start with the Dow Jones seen down 0.7% but the S&P 500 pointed 0.1% higher and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.2%. Dragging on the Dow opening call was jet maker Boeing, shedding 8.9% in pre-market trade after one of its 737 Max 8 aircraft, flown by Ethiopian Airlines, crashed and killed nearly 160 people.All Chinese airlines were ordered to temporarily ground their Max 8 planes by the country's aviation watchdog on Monday, while a Caribbean operator suspended operations with both of its new planes. In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was "closely monitoring developments" following the incident, which comes months after a crash involving the same kind of plane that left 189 people dead.In London at midday, miners were among the gainers "on hopes of more government support for [China's] economy", said AJ Bell's Russ Mould.Glencore was up 1.7%, while Antofagasta rose 1.6% and Rio Tinto by 1.0%.Meanwhile, credit checking firm Experian slipped 1.3% after Deutsche Bank cut its rating on the stock to Sell from Hold. OneSavings and Charter Court Financial Services were at the top of the FTSE 250, up 9.7% and 9.2%, respectively, on news of a potential tie-up between the two banks. Charter Court Financial confirmed it is in "advanced" talks to be taken over by larger peer OneSavings Bank in an all-share deal to create a lender with a GBP1.64 billion market capitalisation.OneSavings, which has not yet released its own statement, would offer 0.8253 of a share per Charter Court share, leading to OneSavings Bank shareholders owning 55% of the new group and Charter Court's the rest.Leading the combined group would be current OneSavings Chief Executive Andy Golding.A deal has not yet been agreed, Charter Court stressed, but both boards would recommend one to its shareholders if a final agreement can be reached.Meanwhile, Clarkson slipped 8.6% as it posted a dip in annual profit and noted political uncertainty in the year ahead. The FTSE 250-listed shipping services provider posted pretax profit of GBP42.9 million, 5.5% lower compared to GBP45.4 million a year ago. Revenue, meanwhile, rose 4.2% to GBP337.6 million from GBP324.0 million.The dip in profit was mainly due to higher administrative expenses of GBP282.1 million compared to GBP269.3 million a year ago. Looking ahead, the company said it started the year with a "stronger forward order book". However, it warned that geo-political uncertainty, from trade wars, Brexit and the imposition of sanctions, is continuing to knock global sentiment."This is causing delays in the ability for our financial segment to execute on awarded mandates and also, combined with the effects of tragic natural disasters, is impacting the rate environment within the dry cargo segment," Clarkson said.Cairn Energy fell 8.1%. The oil and gas company said that while it is confident in its arbitration claim against the Indian Income Tax Department, it no longer expects the award to be issued before late 2019.Cairn began its proceedings against India in 2015 after "retrospective taxation actions" by the country's Income Tax Department in 2014. Cairn claimed around USD1.4 billion.Cairn said it expects that the arbitration panel will "issue a binding and internationally-enforceable award", and the company is confident of the merit of its arbitration claims.With submissions and hearings now concluded, the panel is preparing its award. While the arbitration panel had originally expected to issue an award "expeditiously" after the main merits hearings of August 2018, "a number of procedural matters" caused delays.