London pre-open: Futures pointing up despite higher Covid-19 alert level for UK

(Sharecast News) - Stocks in London are being called to start the session a tad higher even after the Prime Minister warned that the country was facing a "tidal wave" of Covid-19 infections due to the new Omicron variant.
"There is a tidal wave of Omicron coming, and I'm afraid it is now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need," Boris Johnson said on Sunday night.

Everyone aged 18 and over in England would have the chance to receive a booster shot before the New Year, he added.

Just hours before, the UK had raised its Covid alert level from three to four.

As of 0534 GMT, futures tracking the FTSE 100 were rising by 9.5 points to 7,305.50.

Over the weekend, the results of a study in South Africa appeared to show that two shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine only offered 22.5% efficacy in protecting against symptomatic infection from the omicron variant - although they could stave off severe disease.

Nevertheless, other studies showed that providing a third shot of the same vaccine could boost protection against omicron to as high as 75%.

No major economic data was scheduled for release in the UK or US on Monday.

Homeserve tidies up the house

Home repairs and improvement business HomeServe, said it had sold policies shared with Piedmont Natural Gas Company to the same affinity partner for around $22m. The deal between Homeserve and US-based Piedmont was due to expire next April. Homeserve decided to sell the policy book rather than continue managing it in a run-down to the end of the arrangement.

Dunelm revealed on Monday that chief financial officer Laura Carr will leave the group in June 2022 to take up a new position elsewhere. Dunelm also stated that it had continued to see "strong trading momentum" since its first quarter trading update back in October.