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(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100's fortunes turned as Monday's session progressed, with London's blue-chip index turning from modest losses to post a rise of over 50 points, spurred on by a positive open in the US.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 53.41 points, or 1.0%, at 5,563.74, having traded as low as 5,351.84 earlier in the session.
The FTSE 250 ended down 145.17 points, or 1.0%, at 14,624.63, and the AIM All-Share closed down 0.40 of a point, or 0.1%, at 663.79.
The Cboe UK 100 ended up 1.1% at 9,422.93, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 1.1% at 12,641.18, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.3% at 8,030.53.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.6%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 1.9%.
Stocks in New York were firmly in the green at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones up 2.1%, the S&P 500 index up 2.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 2.6%.
"Compared to the last few weeks, today's market is positively dormant," said Chris Beauchamp at IG.
"As Europe and the US look ahead to weeks more social distancing and lockdown measures, in a bid to stabilise the growth in infection rates, investors are looking to see what, if anything, can be gleaned from a world of huge fiscal and monetary stimulus," said Beauchamp. "Just as the first waves of infection are likely behind us, so too is the opening salvo of stimulus. Now we have to watch and see how things play out from here."
More than 30,800 deaths had been reported worldwide by Sunday, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally, as the virus continued to leave a devastating imprint on nearly every aspect of society: wiping out millions of jobs, overwhelming healthcare services and draining national treasuries.
Europe alone accounted for more than 20,000 fatalities, where hardest-hit Italy and Spain each reported more than 800 dead in one day.
But in the Chinese city of Wuhan where the virus first struck late last year, officials took tentative steps back towards normality, partially reopening it after more than two months of near-total isolation for its 11 million residents.
US President Donald Trump decided late Saturday against imposing a broad lockdown on New York and its neighbours after a strong pushback from local political leaders and warnings of the panic it could spark. Trump's reversal came on the same day the US death toll topped 2,100, more than doubling in just three days. Of the fatalities, more than a quarter were in New York City.
Helping London's FTSE 100 in a relatively calm session for global stock markets were oil majors, with BP closing up 5.9% and Royal Dutch Shell's 'A' and 'B' shares up 3.3% and 2.6% respectively.
This was despite oil trading around its worst levels since 2002. Brent oil was quoted at USD22.09 a barrel at the London equities close Monday from USD25.03 late Friday.
"Today, could be a key turning point for the supply side as President Trump plans to have a call about oil prices with Russian President Putin. Trump knows he can still save about half of the shale industry if he can get the Russians to back down on increasing their supplies," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda.
The global market is experiencing a crude glut as a result of the ongoing price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. In the US, "people in the oil and gas business are really hurting," Trump said.
"One of the subjects we're going to be talking about is energy," Trump told Fox News in an interview. He said the phone call with Putin would be "very soon."
Safe haven gold eased back on Monday. Gold was quoted at USD1,619.47 an ounce at the London equities close Monday against USD1,626.20 at the close on Friday.
In forex, the pound was quoted at USD1.2404 at the London equities close Monday, compared to USD1.2427 at the close on Friday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY107.93 compared to JPY108.07 late Friday.
The euro stood at USD1.1042 at the European equities close Monday, lower against USD1.1071 at the same time on Friday.
Released in the morning, the European Commission's economic sentiment indicator fell by 8.9 points to 94.5 in the eurozone - the fastest monthly decline in the indicator on record - and by 8.2 points to 94.8 in the wider European union.
In the single currency bloc, the sharp drop resulted from slumping confidence among consumers and in all business sectors, notably in services and retail. Amongst the largest euro area economies, the indicator in Italy plummeted by 17.6 points and in Germany by 9.8 points.
Turning back to the London Stock Exchange, blue-chip airlines ended lower.
easyJet closed down 7.2% and British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines down 4.4%.
Budget airline easyJet has fully grounded its entire fleet of aircraft due to "unprecedented" travel restrictions imposed by governments around the world in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Airlines have taken a hit as countries around the globe have closed their borders and ordered citizens to stay at home as much as possible to help contain the virus spread.
easyJet said that at this stage there can be no certainty of the date for restarting commercial flights and will continuously evaluate the situation based on regulations and demand.
Melrose Industries ended down 18%, just before the London market close saying it has suspended the payment of its final dividend for 2019 of 3.4 pence per share due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The turnaround specialist said from January to mid-March it traded in line with management expectations. However, in the second half of March, Melrose noted a significant deterioration in trading and the end markets the group serves.
Hammerson closed down 22% after the retail property investor said it will not recommend paying its final dividend and also withdrew its payout guidance.
In the UK, where only stores providing essential services remain open, Hammerson said it has so far received 37% of rent billed for the second quarter.
Hammerson said: "The board remains confident in the financial position of the business. It is clear, however, that Covid-19 will have a material impact on the group in 2020. As a result, and given the significant uncertainty about the duration of the pandemic, the board has adopted a prudent approach and decided that it is no longer appropriate to recommend the final dividend of 14.8 pence per share for the financial year ended December 31, 2019."
Signature Aviation finished 15% lower after suspending its final dividend payment as a part of cost-savings plan.
In recent days Signature Aviation said it has seen a "material" decline in flight activity across its network of on average 65% per day, as customers observe temporary stay-at-home orders and enforce social distancing.
As at the start of March, the company said it expects aircraft market in the US to remain broadly flat in 2020. However, on Monday, Signature Aviation said its guidance is now not likely to materialise. Thus, the company said it has already started to take action on its cost base. Signature Aviation's largest cost, fuel, naturally flexes with the volumes in the market, and it holds less than a week's inventory across the network.
On AIM, online estate agent Purplebricks rose 11% despite warning that coronavirus hurt earnings in its current financial year as demand for property weakened.
Since the government's restrictions on movement were implemented, the company said it has seen a weakening in vendor and purchaser activity. As a result, Purplebricks said it has taken immediate and significant measures to preserve cash and implement a lean operating model through this period. All TV and radio advertising has been suspended and online marketing costs have been "significantly" reduced.
Looking ahead, Purplebricks said it now expects revenue to be below expectations for its financial year to April. More positively, the company said it believes its flexible, digitally led operating model leaves Purplebricks well positioned.
On Tuesday, there is a trading statement from engineering firm Smiths Group and roadside rescue service AA.
Chinese service and manufacturing PMIs are out at 0200 BST on Tuesday. Before this is Japanese industrial production, at 0050 BST, while UK GDP is due at 0700 BST. Germany's unemployment rate is due at 0855 BST and eurozone inflation at 1000 BST.
Kantar's UK grocery market share figures are due at 0800 BST on Tuesday.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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