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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Monday, but the FTSE 100 was lagging behind European counterparts, despite gains for oil and mining stocks.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 23.76 points, 0.3%, at 7,355.88. The FTSE 250 was up 40.86 points, 0.2%, at 18,629.34, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.05 points, 0.1%, at 823.52.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.3% at 735.42, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 16,082.01, and the Cboe Small Companies was marginally higher at 12,787.47.
"As a chill settles on markets, there is not much sign of a sustained Santa rally instead there is still a lack of overall cheer with investors mulling more interest rate rises and the never-ending story of the pandemic," said Hargreaves Lansdown's Susannah Streeter.
"Another week of strike action from post and rail workers [in the UK] is set to cause more disruption for retailers and hospitality firms, in particular, in what is usually a crucial week for festive sales."
UK retailers are braced for a subdued last few days of the build-up to Christmas as households bear the brunt of energy and economic shocks.
Research house Springboard said the declines from month to month from September to November and then just a modest predicted rise this month would eradicate the gains made over much of this year.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said footfall would rise in all three destination types from November to December, although would be "more subdued than in previous years" – by 4.5% in high streets, 5% in retail parks, and 10% in shopping centres.
Shares in UK retailers Next and Marks & Spencer fell 1.3% and 1.5%, respectively, as JPMorgan put the first on 'negative catalyst watch' and cut the other to 'underweight' from 'neutral'.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.8%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.7%.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.2209 early Monday, higher than USD1.2161 at the London equities close on Friday. The euro traded at USD1.0641, up from USD1.0601. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY135.95, lower versus JPY136.60.
The yen gained ground as investors responded to reports the Bank of Japan may begin to tighten its ultra-loose monetary policy. The BoJ began its monetary policy meeting on Monday, and will announce a interest rate decision on Tuesday.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 1.1% on Monday, and the S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney lost 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite fell 1.9%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was 0.7% lower.
The world's most populous nation is unwinding years of hardline coronavirus policy, with Covid spreading rapidly in the wake of the official end of mass lockdowns, testing and quarantines.
And with authorities admitting the outbreak is "impossible" to track, the southern megacity of Chongqing – home to around 32 million people – became one of the first parts of China to let people work normally even with visible symptoms, the Chongqing Daily reported Monday, citing a notice from municipal authorities.
"Chinese business confidence has fallen to its lowest since January 2013, according to data from World Economics, and as consumers desert streets and hunker down, while companies brace for mass absences, the immediate outlook remains bleak," HL's Streeter continued.
In London's FTSE 100 index, oil majors were top performers, buoyed by the prospect of higher demand from China, even though oil prices were flat over the weekend.
Harbour Energy added 2.5%, Shell gained 2.6%, and BP was up 2.7%.
Brent oil fetched USD78.86 a barrel, up from USD78.82 late Friday.
Miners also were higher, with Glencore up 1.2%, Endeavour up 1.4%, and Fresnillo 2.1% higher.
Gold was quoted at USD1,795.54 an ounce early Monday in London, up from USD1,789.21 late on Friday.
AstraZeneca shares lost 0.7% in early trade.
The pharmaceutical firm said its phase III Pearl trial for Imfinzi, or durvalumab, did not achieve statistical significance for its primary endpoints of improving overall survival in stage IV non-small cell lung cancer, for certain patients. This was compared to platinum-based chemotherapy as a monotherapy treatment.
More positively, it announced positive opinions in the EU for Imfinzi, as well as Imjudo, Enhertu and Forxiga. Enhertu was also approved in the EU as a monotherapy for advanced HER2-positive gastric cancer.
In the FTSE 250, private healthcare provider Spire Healthcare added 0.5%.
Spire announced it has acquired The Doctors Clinic Group in a GBP12 million deal. TDCG is an integrated provider of occupational health and private general practitioner services, which is expected to deliver turnover of GBP11 million in 2022.
The acquisition is part of its strategy to expand its offering to meet increased healthcare demand in the UK.
"This is a modest bolt-on investment in a business that, under Spire's ownership, is expected to break even in 2023 and become profitable in 2024," the firm said.
Meanwhile on AIM, LBG Media jumped 15%.
The Ladbible-owner said it expects annual revenue of GBP63 million in 2022, and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation of GBP16 million.
In 2021, LBG posted revenue of GBP54.5 million and adjusted Ebitda of GBP16.8 million.
"Given the momentum seen in [the second half], and cost reduction exercise completed in November 2022, management is confident about the outlook for continued growth in 2023," LBG said.
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.9% and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both down 1.1%.
Still to come on Monday's economic calendar, there are the IFO business climate index for Germany at 0900 GMT and EU construction output at 1000 GMT.
By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News senior markets reporter
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