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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were flat at midday on Monday, though the FTSE 100 kept its head above the 8,000 mark achieved for the first time only last week.
The FTSE 100 index was up just 1.82 points at 8,006.42. The FTSE 250 was down 15.42 points, or 0.1%, at 20,073.51, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.85 points, or 0.1%, at 866.55.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.1% at 801.35, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.1% at 17,507.51, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.1% at 14,027.82.
The day ahead expected to remain quiet as markets in New York are closed for a public holiday.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, noted that, despite US markets being closed on Monday, there is no shortage of data coming through in the remainder of the week for the US.
"[US Federal Reserve] minutes and a further inflation print in the form of the Personal Consumption Expenditures number will provide further colour on the economy, while updates on consumer strength or otherwise are due as bellwethers Home Depot and Walmart also report," he said.
The US central bank's meeting minutes will be released on Wednesday, and its preferred inflation gauge - the personal consumption expenditures index - will be published on Friday.
Home Depot and Walmart both release full-year results on Tuesday.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2034 at midday on Monday in London, higher compared to USD1.1999 at the close on Friday.
Chris Turner at ING said he doubts that sterling owes its slightly stronger footing to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak trying to make progress on revisions to the Northern Irish protocol on Monday.
"Instead, it will probably continue to be monetary policy that drives foreign exchange trends. There is little UK data this week, but we will hear from a few more Bank of England speakers... Expect EUR/GBP to stay range-bound and GBP/USD to be bounced around by the dollar trend," Turner commented.
It is understood by PA that Sunak's officials held talks with their Brussels counterparts on Sunday on how to give local politicians a greater say in the application of EU law in the region, addressing what unionists call the "democratic deficit".
Downing Street said talks are ongoing to reach an agreement with the EU aimed at breaking the impasse over the contentious post-Brexit trading arrangements.
In London, Frasers was the best blue-chip performer at midday, up 2.9%.
The Sports Direct-owner announced a share buyback of up to USD80.0 million. No more than 10.0 million shares will be repurchased, and the programme will conclude at the end of its financial year on April 30.
Tesco added 0.1% amid reports from Sky News that the supermarket chain is set to review options for the future of Tesco Bank, which could include a sale of the business.
Citing "City insiders", Sky reported that the review was in the very early stages and potentially may not result in a formal sales process.
One of Sky's sources indicated that a joint venture or partial sale of Tesco Bank was on the cards. The unit is estimated to be worth over GBP1 billion, according to a banking analyst cited by Sky.
In the FTSE 250, Darktrace rose 1.9%. The cybersecurity firm said that as a "sign of confidence" in its financial processes, it has brought in accountants Ernst & Young to conduct a third-party probe.
Darktrace recently received scrutiny from short-seller Quintessential Capital Management, which criticised Darktrace's management and said it is "sceptical" about its growth figures.
Quintessential said it found "numerous transactions" in the run-up to Darktrace's initial public offering which involved simulated or anticipated sales to phantom end-users, meaning ones that do not actually exist.
Darktrace Chair Gordon Hurst said: "The board believes fully in the robustness of Darktrace's financial processes and controls. As a sign of that confidence, we have commissioned this independent third-party review by E&Y. We look forward to the outcome of this review."
Darktrace is due to report interim results on March 8. The company said it does not expect to be in a position to update on the E&Y probe at the time, but will present the investigation's findings "once it is complete".
Hill & Smith rose 1.5% after it announced it acquired Enduro Composites for USD35.0 million.
Enduro Composites is a Houston, Texas-based manufacturer and supplier of engineered composite solutions for the industrial and infrastructure markets.
Hill & Smith noted that Enduro will become part of its engineered solutions division, and is "highly complementary to our existing northeastern and midwestern US composite businesses and will further accelerate our strategy in this exciting and growing market".
Elsewhere in London, Trifast plunged 44% as it warned annual profit would fall well below market expectations, and its chief executive made a shock departure.
The fastenings firm warned that "significant" destocking from one of its Asian manufacturing customers has hurt its operating profit.
As a result, it now expects adjusted pretax profit for the year to March 31 to be around GBP9.0 million. This is below current market expectations of GBP14.3 million by 37%, according to company-compiled consensus.
In addition, Chief Executive Officer Mark Belton resigned on Saturday with immediate effect, after 23 years at the firm. Non-executive director Scott Mac Meekin is taking up the role of interim CEO immediately.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was marginally higher.
According to Eurostat, production in the eurozone construction sector fell 2.5% in December from November, worsening from a 0.1% decline in November from October.
This was also a markedly worse outcome than the FXStreet-cited market consensus of a 0.1% fall.
On an annual basis, construction fell 1.3% in December, compared to a 1.6% fall in November. Market consensus had been expecting a rise of 2.8%.
The euro stood at USD1.0688 midday Monday, slightly higher against USD1.0662 at the London equities close on Friday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY134.01, lower compared to JPY134.37.
Brent oil was quoted at USD83.45 a barrel at midday in London on Monday, up from USD82.79 late Friday. Gold was quoted at USD1,845.25 an ounce, sharply higher against USD1,835.70.
By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter
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