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(Alliance News) - London stocks started the week on a subdued note, as England pressed ahead with easing its lockdown even as the virus situation continued to deteriorate elsewhere in Europe.

The FTSE 100 index was up just 1.24 points at 6,741.83 early Monday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 33.82 points, or 0.2%, at 21,520.55. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.3% at 1,196.33.

The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.1% at 672.36. The Cboe 250 was up 0.1% at 19,241.91, and the Cboe Small Companies up 0.1% at 13,919.01.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.3783 early Monday, soft on USD1.3795 at the London equities close on Friday.

"The situation in France appears to be going from bad to worse, with the prospect that the UK could follow the example of Germany last week and impose entry restrictions at the French border as authorities there struggle with surging cases of the Brazil and South African variant. With now over 30 million Britons having received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine the UK government will be only too aware of how delicate a stage the UK reopening process is currently," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

However, he added: "For the time being markets appear to be adopting a glass half full mentality when it comes to sentiment, as we look ahead to the end of the month and the quarter later this week."

In England, friends and families will be reunited and team sports will resume in a major easing of the country's coronavirus lockdown to allow far greater freedom outdoors. Groups of up to six, or two households, can socialise in parks and gardens once more, while outdoor sports facilities can reopen after the stay-at-home order ended on Monday.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson stressed that "we must remain cautious, with cases rising across Europe and new variants threatening our vaccine rollout", while warm weather was excepted to accompany the relaxation.

Restrictions were eased as official figures showed more than 30 million people in the UK have received a first vaccine dose, accounting for about 57% of all adults.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it is on track to achieve the government's target of offering all over-50s and the clinically vulnerable their first vaccine by April 15.

It comes as the UK is expecting to receive its first shipment of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine next month. Vaccine supplies have been affected by issues in India, where a temporary hold on AstraZeneca exports has been imposed, and there has been trepidation because of a row with the EU over exports.

The EU has threatened to ban pharma firms from exporting coronavirus vaccines to Britain and other well-supplied countries until they make good on their promised deliveries to the bloc – a threat directed mainly at British-based AstraZeneca.

President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview Sunday said France will have caught up with Britain on the number of people vaccinated against Covid-19 "in a few weeks". On Saturday, France recorded an additional 42,619 infections – several times the target of 5,000 daily cases Macron set in late 2020.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday urged Germany's 16 federal states to honour measures agreed to curb Covid-19, with cases spiralling as many regions stray from the national line. Germany was widely praised for its handling of the first wave of the pandemic, but has struggled to contain new infections since they began spiralling out of control in a second wave late last year.

The euro fell to USD1.1779 on Monday from USD1.1796 late Friday.

In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.4% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.5% early Monday.

In London, Entain was the second worst performer in the FTSE 250, down 1.6%, after Australian gaming firm Tabcorp Holdings said it has rejected takeover offers for its Wagering & Media arm.

In February, the Ladbrokes Coral owner had confirmed it was in the early stages of talks to acquire the Tabcorp unit. Entain, noting press speculation in Australia, said it had "made a non-binding indicative offer".

Tabcorp noted Monday it has received proposals valuing its unit at AUD3 billion, about GBP1.66 billion. "The Tabcorp board has carefully considering the proposals and formed the view that the proposals do not adequately value Tabcorp's Wagering & Media business," Tabcorp said.

Burberry shares were up 1.8% after the stock fell 6.7% last week. China has launched a PR war on Western brands critical of rights abuses against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, with celebrities severing ties to Nike and Adidas, Hennes & Mauritz facing a boycott, and Burberry dumped from a deal with a gaming giant.

Shares in mid-cap housebuilder Crest Nicholson rose 2.6% after Jefferies raised the stock to Buy from Hold.

AJ Bell shares rose 1.6% after saying it expects revenue for its current financial year to top market consensus.

The retail investment platform said it has continued to see strong customer acquisition in the first half of the financial year ending September 30 and dealing activity by D2C customers has remained at "elevated levels".

While dealing activity is expected to ease from current levels in the second half, AJ Bell currently expects revenue for the financial year to be at least GBP6.0 million above current market consensus. It said that consensus lies at GBP136.0 million.

The company reported revenue of GBP126.7 million and pretax profit of GBP48.6 million in the 2020 financial year, suggesting an annual increase in revenue of at least a 12%.

Cerillion shares rose 10% as it secured its largest ever contract win to date, with a ten-year agreement worth a total of USD18.4 million signed with a full-service network operator in Latin America.

The contract in Latin America is for the supply and implementation of Cerillion's Enterprise Business Support System/Operations Support System suite, and includes full support services over the 10-year term. The tender process was "rigorous and extensive", the billing and customer relations management software firm said.

This contract, together with a smaller GBP2.7 million extension recently secured with an existing customer in Europe, is anticipated to result in Cerillion exceeding current management expectations for pretax profit in the current financial year ending September 30.

In other corporate news, Deliveroo has said it will price shares for its highly anticipated stock market listing towards the bottom of its price range due to "volatile" market conditions.

It comes after a week in which a raft of leading fund managers said they will reject the listing – which could be the UK's biggest for a decade – amid concerns over workers' rights. The takeaway delivery firm is set to announce its final pricing on Wednesday morning but has narrowed its share price range to between GBP3.90 and GBP4.10 per share.

Last week, the company said it intended to offer a range of between GBP3.90 and GBP4.60 per share, which could have potentially valued the business up to GBP8.8 billion. It said it now expects it will be valued at between GBP7.6 billion and GBP7.85 billion.

In Asia on Monday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.1% in late trade.

Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY109.55 versus JPY109.60.

Gold was quoted at USD1,725.62 an ounce early Monday, down from USD1,733.46 on Friday.

Brent oil was trading at USD63.29 a barrel early Monday, lower than USD64.35 late Friday after the massive container ship that has been blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week started to move.

The MV Ever Given, longer than four football fields, has been wedged diagonally across the canal since Tuesday, strangling world supply chains and costing the global economy billions. The stern of the boat has now moved away from the canal's western bank, according to the Vesselfinder and myshiptracking sites, a fact confirmed by an AFP source at the canal.

Egypt's Suez Canal Authority said the container ship has been turned in the "right direction". "The position of the ship has been reorientated 80% in the right direction," SCA chief Osama Rabie said in a statement.

The economic calendar on Monday has UK mortgage approvals at 0930 BST and Irish retail sales at 1100 BST.

By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com

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