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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Monday, while in Brazil senior BRICS diplomats are set to meet in the face of threats emerging from US President Donald Trump's aggressive trade policies.
"The ministers are negotiating a declaration aimed at reaffirming the centrality and importance of the multilateral trading system," Brazil's BRICS representative Mauricio Lyrio told reporters Saturday.
The FTSE 100 index was up 31.55 points, 0.4%, at 8,446.80 early on Monday morning. The FTSE 250 was up 122.88 points, 0.6%, at 19,732.57, and the AIM All-Share was up 2.26 points, 0.3%, at 675.11.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.4% at 841.11, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.8% at 17,263.68, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.6% at 15,340.34.
Entain led the FTSE 100, up 3.4%. Marks & Spencer was the worst performer, down 2.4%.
M&S on Friday paused its UK & Ireland online orders via its websites, apps and some Marks & Spencer operated websites. This was amid a cyber incident the firm had experienced which it reported on Tuesday.
Deliveroo was the best FTSE 250 performer, surging by 16%.
The food delivery company has suspended its share buyback programme, but this was in light of its confirmation on Friday that it had received an indicative takeover proposal from DoorDash.
DoorDash is proposing to pay 180 pence per Deliveroo share, which the latter had said it was "minded to recommend" to shareholders should it become a firm offer.
North Atlantic Smaller Cos Investment Trust was at the other end, down 3.1%.
Among smaller caps, Petro Matad led AIM with a 36% rise.
The Mongolia-focused oil company announced the signing of an oil sales agreement for crude oil from Block XX.
"We look forward to establishing a cooperative routine in the sales process in the same way that the field crews in Blocks XIX and XX have done in the production operations over the last 6 months and to receiving payment for all the oil produced to date during the month of May," commented Chief Executive Officer Mike Buck.
Feedback lost 21%.
The clinical infrastructure company said it expects around GBP900,000 in revenue for the year ending May 31, down from GBP1.2 million the year before.
The firm warned: "The backdrop of the merging of NHS England ["NHSE"] with the Department of Health & Social Care ["DHSC"], and the drive for a 50% reduction of operational costs across NHS Trusts and Integrated Care Boards ["ICBs"] at a national level, in addition to multiple changes to funding programmes being announced by the government and the NHS, have resulted in increased levels of near-term uncertainty and a delay in expected contract awards."
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.4%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3301 early on Monday in London, lower compared to USD1.3313 at the equities close on Friday. The euro stood at USD1.1352, lower than USD1.1372. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY143.72, down compared to JPY143.88.
In Asia on Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.4%.
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.1%, the S&P 500 up 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.3%.
Analysts noted the weekend's lack of surprises from the US, with Swissquote's Ipek Ozkardeskaya commenting that "happily, we heard no major bombs from Trump or his administration over the weekend. It could hardly get better than this given the situation. So, the week starts with some optimism."
She continued: "The meagre flow of bad headlines over the weekend is encouraging, but US futures are pointing to a soft start to a week full of earnings. This week, oil giants and four of the Magnificent 7 companies will report their earnings, and their results could potentially throw a floor under the Trump-led selloff — if Trump doesn't spoil the market mood.
"But trade news remain concerning. I came across a chart showing the impact of the latest tariff escalation between the US and China, and it shows that cargo ships leaving China for the US dropped by more than 30% since April 2nd... That – and the fact that Chinese goods will see their prices rise significantly in the US in the coming weeks are highly concerning."
Brent oil was quoted lower at USD65.82 a barrel early in London on Monday from USD66.68 late Friday.
Gold was quoted higher at USD3,284.91 an ounce against USD3,279.17.
Still to come on Monday's economic calendar is the US Dallas Fed manufacturing index.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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