9th Nov 2026 12:03
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were higher at midday on Monday, with the FTSE 100 supported by a rally in mining stocks, while investors assessed an extension of the US-China trade truce.
The FTSE 100 index was up 82.58 points, 0.8%, at 10,756.52. The FTSE 250 was up 167.83 points, 0.7%, at 24,672.15, and the AIM all-share was up 6.29 points, 0.8%, at 760.02.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.8% at 1,067.50, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.7% at 21,834.73, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.2% at 18,588.50.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.6%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt gained 0.9%.
China announced a two-month extension of its suspension of additional tariffs on US imports, ahead of a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry said the additional 24% tariff would remain suspended, although an existing 10% tariff would continue to apply.
The 24% levy was first introduced in April 2025 on certain US imports but was suspended shortly afterwards following several rounds of negotiations.
Trump and Xi subsequently reached a broader trade truce in Busan in October, easing tensions between the world's two largest economies.
The two leaders could meet for a third time this year on the sidelines of next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, southern China.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also announced plans to attend the summit, prompting speculation about a possible meeting involving all three leaders.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3419 at midday Monday, higher than USD1.3362 at the London equities close on Friday. Against the euro, sterling edged down to EUR1.1986 from EUR1.1989.
The euro rose to USD1.1191 from USD1.1149 late Friday. Against the yen, the dollar fell to JPY157.89 from JPY158.34.
In the FTSE 100, mining stocks were among the leading gainers as a broad rally in commodity markets lifted precious and industrial metals prices.
Gold was quoted at USD4,103.30 an ounce at midday Monday, higher than USD4,058.03 on Friday, while silver prices also advanced.
Copper traded around USD6.27 a pound, recovering from four-month lows near USD6.18 last week, when concerns over the outlook for artificial intelligence infrastructure investment weighed on industrial metals.
Endeavour Mining and Antofagasta both climbed 3.9%, while Anglo American gained 3.6%, Fresnillo advanced 3.4%, and Glencore rose 2.7%.
In the FTSE 250, Meridian Mining rose 4.2% after announcing that its Cabacal copper, gold and silver project in Mato Grosso, Brazil, had entered the pre-construction phase as it advanced towards a final investment decision.
At the other end of the mid-cap index, Kainos Group fell 9.7% after reporting a decline in half-year margins, despite revenue and profit exceeding market expectations.
The IT services provider said pretax profit rose 26% to GBP35.8 million in the six months ended September 30 from GBP28.4 million a year earlier, while revenue jumped 37% to GBP268.8 million from GBP196.1 million.
Adjusted pretax profit increased 30% to GBP41.7 million from GBP32.0 million, while bookings grew 27% to GBP402.3 million from GBP317.0 million.
Among smaller companies, Roebuck Food Group plunged 49% as its shares resumed trading following a EUR9.0 million share subscription at 9 pence per share announced last week.
Blackbird declined 16% after announcing the promotion of Sumit Rai to chief executive officer.
Litigation Capital Management also fell 16% after reporting that a party it had funded was unsuccessful in seeking permission to appeal.
Seeing Machines dropped 15% amid the absence of an update on the refinancing of its convertible loan notes with Magna.
Stocks in New York were called higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average set to open up 0.9%, while the S&P 500 was called up 0.5% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite up 0.2%.
However, Nvidia shares were down 4.9% in premarket trading after the chipmaker's board announced an independent investigation into reports concerning Chief Executive Jensen Huang's relationship with a woman suspected by US intelligence officials of spying for China.
The investigation follows a report by the New York Times last month that US intelligence officials had concluded that a Chinese business executive with whom Huang had an affair had been gathering information for Beijing.
The executive, Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, has links to Megaspeed International, a Singapore-based Nvidia customer that has faced allegations of attempting to divert advanced US chips to China.
The developments have raised concerns among investors about the potential implications for Nvidia's leadership and its business relationships.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.85% at midday Monday, narrowing from 4.87% on Friday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was unchanged at 5.26%.
Brent oil was trading at USD95.16 a barrel at midday Monday, lower than USD97.66 late Friday, as investors monitored diplomatic efforts to prevent renewed hostilities between Washington and Tehran.
Trump on Sunday played down the likelihood of further US military action against Iran, saying additional strikes were "highly unlikely" as long as negotiations continued to make progress.
The comments followed weeks of warnings from Trump that Washington could resume its military campaign against Tehran, amid US media reports suggesting hostilities could restart following last week's midterm elections.
"The answer is highly unlikely it's going to be necessary... I would if necessary, but we hit them really hard. I hit them so hard. You don't know how hard I hit them," Trump told CNN.
However, he warned that any decision to resume hostilities "depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement."
Meanwhile, the EU is aiming to appoint a successor to European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde by the end of the year, Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis said on Monday.
His comments came ahead of the first discussions among eurozone finance ministers on who should replace Lagarde, who announced last month that she would step down in February, before the scheduled end of her term.
Former Dutch central bank governor Klaas Knot and Spain's Pablo Hernandez de Cos, currently head of the Bank for International Settlements, are the two candidates to succeed her.
Still to come on Monday's economic calendar, the US releases September wholesale inventories figures, with the FXStreet-cited consensus expecting a 0.6% monthly increase, matching August's pace.
US consumer inflation expectations data is also due.
By Eva Castanedo, Alliance News senior economics reporter
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