LONDON MARKET OPEN: Marginally Higher As Investors Await G20 Summit

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened marginally higher on Monday, with the FTSE 100 managing to start above the 7,400 mark, as investors look ahead to the start of the highly anticipated G20 summit later this week. The FTSE 100 was up 10.00 points, or 0.1% at 7,417.50. The FTSE 250 was up 57.56 points, or 0.3%, at 19,382.16. The AIM All-Share was up 1.18 points, or 0.1%, at 934.25.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.4% at 12,574.39. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 17,314.89, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was up 0.1% at 11,530.12.In European equities, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.3% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was flat. "In a week that is severely back-weighted, building to the much-anticipated G20 tete-a-tete between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, the European markets nevertheless made the most of a quiet calendar to maintain June's gains," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell. On the London Stock Exchange, Admiral Group was the best blue-chip performer, up 2.0% after Barclays double-upgraded the insurer to Overweight from Underweight. At the other end of the large cap index, Carnival was the worst performer, down 1.7% after Barclays downgraded the cruise line operator to Equal Weight from Overweight.Last Thursday, Carnival shares sank after the company lowered its full-year earnings outlook. The stock fell 15% last week. BT Group was down 1.2% after Deutsche Bank cut the telecommunications provider to Sell from Hold. In the FTSE 250, Entertainment One was up 2.5% after Berenberg started coverage on the independent film and television content producer with a Buy rating. At the other end of the midcap index, Dixons Carphone was the worst performer, down 2.1% at 108.11 pence, after Goldman Sachs cut its price target on the stock to 130p from 148p.Last week, the mobile phone and electrical goods retailer warned that an increasingly changing UK mobile market will further hurt results in the new 2020 financial year. The stock dropped 12% last week. On AIM, MySale Group was down 40% after the retailer launched a strategic review to consider "all types of corporate activity", including options to raise additional capital to support ongoing restructuring and the sale of certain parts or the whole of the group, and de-listing of the company's shares from trading on AIM in London.US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he does not want to start a war with Iran. However, he warned that if it comes to a war then it will be "obliteration like you've never seen before" for the Islamic Republic.In an interview on NBC's "Meet The Press" on Sunday, Trump said that the only condition is that Iran can not have a nuclear weapon."I'm not looking for war and if there is, it'll be obliteration like you've never seen before," Trump said. "But I'm not looking to do that. But you can't have a nuclear weapon. You want to talk? Good. Otherwise you can have a bad economy for the next three years."Meanwhile, China and the US should work to reach a compromise in their trade dispute, Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said in Beijing on Monday, days ahead of a planned meeting between the two country's presidents.Chinese and US trade teams are both preparing for negotiations following a phone call last Tuesday between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, Wang told a press briefing.Trump and Xi are set to meet later this week at the G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.1%.The pound was quoted at USD1.2726 on Monday, higher than USD1.2694 at the London equities close Friday.In a quiet economic calendar on Monday there is a German business sentiment index reading at 0900 BST.