(Alliance News) -Â London stocks were lower at the start of the week, but moderately so, with oil majors higher despite Brent prices slumping to their lowest levels in over 17 years.
The FTSE 100 index was down 34.44 points, or 0.6%, at 5,475.89 Monday midday. The FTSE 250 was down 478.31 points, or 3.2%, at 14,291.49, and the AIM All-Share was down 1.4% at 654.67.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.5% at 9,274.31, the Cboe UK 250 was down 3.2% at 12,370.65, and the Cboe Small Companies down 0.8% at 7,992.41.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 1.1%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.5%.
"The usual Monday morning sell-off has been less severe than we've seen in recent weeks," noted Craig Erlam at Oanda.
"The losses are pretty modest by recent standards as well ,so investors may even be a little encouraged, depending on how the rest of the day goes in Europe and the US," said Erlam. "The news over the weekend was no more pleasant, with the death count nearing 34,000, up almost 7,000 since Friday. Italy will be hoping that two consecutive days of fewer deaths is cause for optimism, although it may be cautious optimism following last week's false dawn."
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.
Stocks on Wall Street were poised for a cautiously higher start on Monday, with the Dow Jones pointed up 0.1% and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both up 0.2%.
In the UK, Boris Johnson has said the country will get through the coronavirus crisis "together" after Britons were warned restrictions on their lives may last for at least six months.
The prime minister issued the words of encouragement from within Downing Street, where he is isolating having tested positive for Covid-19.
The eputy chief medical officer for England, Jenny Harries, said the nation will not be in "complete lockdown" for half a year but said social distancing measures will be lifted gradually.
The death toll in UK hospitals has reached 1,228, with the country seeing a rise of 209 on Sunday. This was the second biggest day-on-day jump but it was smaller than the 260 increase reported the day before. But experts warned it was too early to claim the rate was decreasing and Harries said she expected the coronavirus death toll to increase "for the next week or two".
In forex, the pound was quoted at USD1.2392 Monday midday, down from USD1.2427 at the London equities close Friday.
The euro was quoted at USD1.1058, down from USD1.1071 late Friday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY107.97, down from JPY108.07.
Gold was quoted at USD1,620.43 an ounce, lower than USD1,626.20.
Brent oil was quoted at USD22.94 a barrel Monday midday, down from USD25.03 late Friday and trading around its lowest levels since late 2002.
"From a FTSE 100 perspective, the continued decline in oil prices should be a negative given the heavy commodities focus on the top UK index. However, the relative outperformance for the likes of BP and Royal Dutch Shell highlights the perception that these majors will soon be a good buying opportunity despite the expectation of further short-term weakness in crude," said Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at IG.
BP was up 1.8% and Royal Dutch Shell 'A' shares up 2.2% and 'B' shares up 2.0%.
Meanwhile, London's blue-chip airlines were in the red. easyJet was down 6.9% and British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines down 5.6%.
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.
Elsewhere in the FTSE 100, Ashtead was down 8.6% after Berenberg cut the equipment rental firm to Sell from Hold.
Among the mid-caps, Hammerson was down 19% 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.
"The board is also retracting its dividend guidance for 2020, although it remains mindful of its real estate investment trust tax obligations."
Dixons Carphone shares slipped 18% after RBC cut the stock to Underperform from Sector Perform.
To come in the economic calendar on Monday is German inflation at 1300 BST
By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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