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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened mixed on Monday with investors monitoring the war in Ukraine, while Antofagasta rose after reaching a deal to exit the Reko Diq project in Pakistan.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday urged direct talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as the only way to end the war.
"Dialogue is the only way out," he said on CNN. "I think it's just the two of us, me and Putin, who can make an agreement on this."
The FTSE 100 index was up 26.08 points, or 0.4%, at 7,430.81 early Monday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 95.71 points, or 0.5%, at 21,060.91. The AIM All-Share index was up 4.89 points, or 0.4%, at 1,000.13.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.4% at 738.50. The Cboe 250 was down 0.2% at 18,600.53, and the Cboe Small Companies up 0.5% at 14,851.88.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 stock index in Paris was down 0.2% and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was 0.1% lower.
"While the announcement that Russia has for the moment avoided a sovereign default which would undoubtedly have added to investor jitters, the situation in its ongoing conflict with Ukraine remains more pertinent to sentiment. Ongoing speculation that there is slow progress towards a ceasefire is capping further market losses, although in the meantime commodity prices continue to feel the pressure of an upward squeeze on supply constraints," said interactive investor's Richard Hunter.
Oil majors BP and Shell were up 1.7% and 1.8% respectively, tracking spot oil prices higher. Brent oil was trading at USD112.54 a barrel Monday morning, up sharply from USD107.51 a barrel late Friday.
However, gold was trading lower, quoted at USD1,924.33 an ounce, against USD1,938.46 late Friday.
Antofagasta was leading the FTSE 100 index, up 3.5% as the Chilean copper miner looks set to exit its copper and mining project in Pakistan.
Canada's Barrick Gold on Sunday said it has agreed a deal with authorities in Pakistan that will see work at the Reko Diq copper and gold mine resume. Antofagasta will exit the project and be replaced by state-owned enterprises in Pakistan.
Work at the asset was suspended back in 2011 due to a dispute about the legality of the licensing process. Antofagasta's exit process will see the project reconstituted under Tethyan Copper Co, a joint-venture controlled by Antofagasta and Barrick. A consortium of state-owned firms in Pakistan will then acquire shares in the TCC unit that owns the project, in a USD900 million deal.
At the other end of London large-caps, Hargreaves Lansdown was the worst performer, down 2.5% after Jefferies downgraded the fund supermarket to 'underperform' from 'hold'.
London Stock Exchange Group was down 0.3%. The stock exchange operator has agreed a USD1 billion deal to sell its BETA+ wealth technology platform to a consortium of investors, Sky News reported on Monday.
Sky News said a deal could be announced by LSEG later on Monday.
The assets are being sold to New York-based Motive Partners and California-headquartered Clearlake Capital Group. Sky News, citing a source, said the deal includes assets that were acquired as part of LSEG's purchase of Refinitiv.
Elsewhere in London, Photo-Me International was up 6.8% after the photobooth operator said it delivered a strong performance in 2021.
For the year that ended October 31, Photo-Me posted a pretax profit of GBP28.6 million, swung from a GBP27.8 million loss in financial 2020, on revenue of GBP214.4 million, up from GBP186.3 million.
The company explained that it benefited from completion of its restructuring programme to remove unprofitable machines from its estate - mainly photobooths and children's rides - which was completed in April 2021. As such, total revenue and pretax profit were at the upper end of the company's own expectations.
Photo-Me declared a 2.89 pence annual dividend, having paid out nothing in financial 2020.
In Asia on Monday, the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.1%, but the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong lost 0.9%. Financial markets in Japan were closed to mark Vernal Equinox Day. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.2%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3164 early Monday, down from USD1.3178 at the London equities close Friday.
The euro was priced at USD1.1057, slightly lower against USD1.1061. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY119.22 in London, up from JPY119.15.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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