(Alliance News) - Stocks in London were higher at midday on Monday despite the EU debating fresh sanctions on Russia, while Twitter shares spiked in New York after the world's richest man took a sizeable stake in the company.
The FTSE 100 index was up 15.37 points, or 0.2%, at 7,553.27. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index rose 81.06 points, or 0.4%, to 21,299.06. The AIM All-Share index was up 3.76 points, or 0.4%, at 1,048.85.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.2% at 751.68. The Cboe 250 was up 0.5% at 18,761.24, and the Cboe Small Companies climbed 0.2% to 15,396.31.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.4%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.2%.
In the latest Ukraine developments, the EU said it is urgently discussing a new round of sanctions on Russia as it condemned "atrocities" reported in Ukrainian towns that have been occupied by Moscow's troops.
The EU "will advance, as a matter of urgency, work on further sanctions against Russia," foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement on behalf of the bloc. "We stand in full solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in these sombre hours for the whole world," he said.
The proposals, which French President Emmanuel Macron said could target Russia's oil and coal sectors, could be discussed by foreign ministers on the sidelines of a NATO meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, or at their regular meeting early next week, an EU official told AFP.
Borrell said in his statement that the EU "condemns in the strongest possible terms" the atrocities reported in Ukrainian towns that had been occupied by Russian forces, including the town of Bucha, where corpses were found with their hands bound.
"The massacres in the town of Bucha and other Ukrainian towns will be inscribed in the list of atrocities committed on European soil," Borrell said.
Oil prices slipped even as the EU mulls new sanctions. Brent oil was quoted at USD103.64 a barrel on Monday at midday, down from USD105.32 late Friday.
Elsewhere in the commodities space, gold stood at USD1,926.11 an ounce, soft against USD1,928.25.
Despite the price of the precious metal dipping, Endeavour Mining was the best large-cap performer in London at midday, up 5.7%, after the gold miner said it will expand its Sabodala-Massawa site in Senegal, following the conclusion of a new definitive feasibility study.
Endeavour said it will supplement its existing 4.2 million tonnes per annum carbon-in-leach plant with a 1.2 million tonnes per annum Biox plant. The Biox plant will help to process the high-grade refractory ores from the Massawa Central & Massawa North deposits.
The miner said the expansion will lift the site to "top tier status", with an anticipated average annual production of 373,000 ounces per year over the next five years, with average all-in sustaining costs of USD745 per ounce.
Kingfisher was up 1.8% after Deutsche Bank raised the DIY retailer to 'buy' from 'hold'.
At the other end of the large-caps, Aviva was the worst performer, down 1.5%, after Barclays downgraded the insurer to 'equal weight' from 'overweight'.
Aviva on separately Monday said it appointed Charlotte Jones as its new chief financial officer with effect from September 5. Jones previously held the position of CFO at former FTSE 100-listed RSA Insurance Group and interim chief executive officer of the RSA UK & International business.
In the FTSE 250, Just Group was the best performer, up 6.6%, after Barclays upgraded the retirement specialist to 'overweight' from 'equal weight'.
"We are positive on the outlook for bulk annuities and Just has the highest exposure amongst the listed UK life insurers that we cover," said Barclays.
At the other end of the midcaps, easyJet was down 1.5%. The budget airline cancelled more than 200 flights over the weekend with disruption expected to last into this week, leaving some passengers stranded amid travel chaos at some of Britain's biggest airports.
The airline blamed the problems on high levels of sickness among employees caused by Covid, with at least 222 trips axed since Friday.
easyJet said it had made efforts to offset staff shortages by "rostering" additional standby crew on the weekend but was forced to make "additional cancellations for today (Sunday) and tomorrow".
A total of 62 flights scheduled for Monday have been pulled, the majority of which were announced at short notice on Saturday.
An easyJet spokesperson said: "As a result of the current high rates of Covid infections across Europe, like all businesses easyJet is experiencing higher than usual levels of employee sickness."
Elsewhere, Ted Baker was up 14% after the fashion retailer said it has received a third takeover offer from Sycamore Partners Management LP.
Ted Baker said it was evaluating the "improved proposal from Sycamore," having launched a formal sales process in agreement with the UK Takeover Panel. It also said it had received another "unsolicited" approach by an unnamed party.
Ted Baker did not disclose the value of the latest approach by Sycamore or the unnamed third party.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3115 at midday on Monday, up from USD1.3108 at the London equities close Friday.
The euro was priced at USD1.1007, down from USD1.1035. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY122.60, down from JPY122.82.
New York was pointed to a higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called up 0.1%, the S&P 500 up 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.4%, based on futures trading.
On Wall Street, Twitter was up 28% in pre-market trade after Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk acquired a stake in the social media company, according to a regulatory filing.
The world's wealthiest individual now holds 73.5 million shares in Twitter, equal to a 9.2% passive stake in the company, according to the US Securities & Exchange Commission 13G filing. The stake is worth USD2.89 billion, based Twitter's closing price on Friday.
According to Forbes, Musk's net worth stands at USD287.6 billion
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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