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(Alliance News) -Â Stocks in Europe started the week on a cautious note as optimism over last week's US jobs report faded and oil prices eased back after OPEC's weekend accord.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 11.71 points, or 0.2%, at 6,472.59 on Monday. The FTSE 250 ended down 92.42 points, or 0.5%, at 18,136.90, and the AIM All-Share closed down 10.88 points, or 1.2%, at 892.89.
The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.1% at 10,966.40, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 0.1% at 15,728.17, but the Cboe UK Small Companies ended up 1.7% at 9,961.16.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down 0.4%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended down 0.2%.
"The European rebound has eased back throughout the afternoon today, with sentiment somewhat mixed despite the optimism around Friday's unexpected rebound in the US jobs market," said Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at IG.
"The FTSE 100 gainers is once again being headed up by value stocks, with heavily-hit companies such as Rolls-Royce and Carnival surging higher despite ongoing fears over their balance sheets," Mahony added. "With the likes of the Nasdaq back into record highs today, we are likely to continue seeing investors and traders seek value in those undervalued stocks that have taken a beating in the past three months."
While stocks in Europe edged lower on Monday, Wall Street started the week on the front foot.
Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.0%, the S&P 500 index up 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite 0.3%.
In New York, shares in Nasdaq constituent Gilead Sciences were up 0.8%. Bloomberg over the weekend reported London-listed AstraZeneca had approached the California-headquartered biopharmaceutical firm over a near GBP200 billion blockbuster merger that would be the biggest pharmaceutical merger on record.
However, according to the Telegraph, a tie-up is unlikely, citing sources that argued that AstraZeneca would not be chasing down a merger at a time when it is racing to create a vaccine against Covid-19. Spokesmen for AstraZeneca and Gilead declined to comment, the article said.
Astra shares closed down 2.7% in London.
Meanwhile, gains for London's oil majors were trimmed as Brent's OPEC-driven gains ebbed.
Brent oil was quoted at USD41.14 a barrel at the London equities close Monday from USD42.16 late Friday.
The North Sea benchmark hit a high of USD43.30 overnight - its highest level in three months. A month ago, Brent was struggling to trade above USD30 a barrel, while the near-contract futures price of US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell into negative territory.
The 13-member cartel and its allies, notably Russia, decided to extend by a month deep May and June cuts agreed in April to boost prices, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in a statement. But Mexico, which had already made clear ahead of the talks that it "could not adjust...production further", announced that it would not be complying.
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and 'B' shares ended up 1.8% and 2.5% respectively and BP closed up 1.0%. Shell shares had traded nearly 5% higher earlier in the session.
The boss of BP has told staff it plans to cut 10,000 jobs from its global workforce just weeks after increasing its dividend.
The company employs 70,000 people across the globe, meaning the cuts will slash the size of its workforce by 14%.
The company said the move will "significantly impact senior levels" of management in the business, with its top leadership roles to be cut by a third. It said the majority of the redundancies will be made by the end of this year, after the business took a major hit from the coronavirus pandemic.
BP said the cuts are part of plans for the business to cut its operating costs by USD2.5 billion for new financial year, although the cuts "will likely have to go even further".
Jet enginer maker Rolls-Royce Holdings ended as the top performer in the FTSE 100 on Monday, up 12%, while cruise operator Carnival added 9.9%. Both stocks suffered sharp sell-offs in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, with Rolls-Royce shares still down 41% since the year began and Carnival down 57%.
Elsewhere in London, Lookers shares ended down 22% after the car dealer said it will not be able to publish its results by the June 30 deadline, meaning its shares likely will be temporarily suspended from trading in July.
The initial reason behind the results delay was a fraud investigation, following a March announcement that Lookers had identified potential fraudulent transactions in one of its operating divisions. Audit firm Grant Thornton is leading the investigation.
Despite this, Lookers had been expecting to post its results by the end of June. Now, due to "the additional procedures that the company and Deloitte will now need to perform in order to finalise the 2019 results", this deadline will not be met.
Having spoken to the UK Financial Conduct Authority, Lookers said it expects its shares to be suspended from July 1 until its results are published. This is to take place "at the earliest possible date and by no later than the end of August".
intu Properties shed 22% after Sky News reported the shopping centre owner has put administrators on standby.
The shopping centre owner will turn to accountant KPMG if lenders refuse to grant a standstill on its vast debt obligations, according to Sky. Intu has requested an 18-month standstill that would grant it relief from covenant tests and payments on debt facility maturities.
Sky reported, without lenders' agreement, a waiver that expires on June 26 would almost certainly trigger the company's collapse into administration. Citing a banking source, Sky said Intu could be declared insolvent within a fortnight if it fails to make sufficient progress in the negotiations with lenders.
Amigo closed down 15% after terminating its sales process as a potential acquirer with whom the company had been in discussions has withdrawn.
The subprime lender also reported the formal resignation of Stephan Wilcke as board chair and said it has decided to cancel its final dividend for the year to March 31 due to a material rise in complaints and the associated costs in resolving them.
Amigo said it has no other acquisition offers and therefore is terminating its formal sale process with immediate effect. The lender had been in talks with an unnamed buyer over a potential 20.9p each offer for Amigo, valuing the entire company at roughly GBP100 million, compared to its current market capitalisation of GBP62.8 million.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2689 at the London equities close Monday, lower compared to USD1.2714 at the close on Friday.
Britain on Monday recorded 55 deaths in the coronavirus outbreak in the last 24 hours – the lowest total since March 22, with Scotland now going two days without a fatality.
It is the lowest daily total since the country went into lockdown on March 23, although figures on Mondays are usually low due to weekend reporting practices.
Despite the downward trend, Britain has now recorded 40,597 deaths of those testing positive for coronavirus, making it the hardest hit nation in Europe and second in the world behind the US.
The euro stood at USD1.1294 at the European equities close Monday, down against USD1.1307 at the same time on Friday. Against the yen, the dollar was lower trading at JPY108.61 compared to JPY109.75 late Friday.
Gold rose to USD1,691.14 an ounce at the London equities close Monday against USD1,677.02 at the close on Friday.
In Tuesday's economic calendar, British Retail Consortium like-for-like sales are at 0001 BST and German exports and imports at 0700 BST followed by eurozone GDP at 1000 BST.
The UK corporate calendar for Tuesday has a trading statement from cigarette maker British American Tobacco and full-year results from engineering and industrial software firm AVEVA.
By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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