20th Jul 2026 11:55
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were lower at midday on Monday, ahead of Andy Burnham's first "big speech" as UK prime minister and amid signs of continuing US-Iran diplomacy, despite escalating attacks.
The US expanded the scope of its strikes on Iran on Monday, targeting provinces around the country including a city hosting a nuclear power plant. The Islamic republic kept up its attacks in the Middle East region, with its army announcing that they had hit targets in Syria, Jordan and Kuwait overnight.
However, Iran indicated that diplomacy with Washington was continuing, with Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei telling a news conference in Tehran: "We have received messages – without going into details – but the main point is that the diplomatic apparatus has been active in recent days and ideas have been conveyed to us by certain mediators."
The FTSE 100 index was down 61.64 points, 0.6%, at 10,538.73. The FTSE 250 was down 44.77 points, 0.2%, at 23,560.06, and the AIM all-share was down 0.55 points, 0.1%, at 758.76.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.4% at 1,047.95, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.2% at 2,0425.66, and the Cboe small companies was down 0.1% at 18,381.08.
Expectations of future finances among UK consumers ameliorated to a four-month high in early July as household debt levels stabilised, data published by S&P Global showed.
The S&P Global UK consumer sentiment index rose to 43.4 points in July, a four-month high, from 42.2 points in June. Importantly, however, the survey responses were collected between July 2 and 6, before US President Donald Trump declared the US-Iran ceasefire over on July 8.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.2%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.3%.
Activity in the European construction sector picked up in May, preliminary data from Eurostat showed.
In May, compared with April, seasonally adjusted production in construction grew 0.4% in the euro area and 0.3% in the EU. In April, monthly growth had been slower in the euro area, revised down to 0.1% from 0.6%, but faster in the EU, albeit revised down to 0.5% from 0.8%.
Compared with a year earlier, May's construction output increased by 1.2% in the euro area and by 1.8% in the EU. In April, annual growth was slower in the euro area, revised down to 0.2% from 0.9%, and in the EU, revised down to 1.1% from 1.5%.
"Investors are keenly awaiting details of who will form Andy Burnham's cabinet once he becomes UK prime minister today," commented AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould, noting that bond markets have reacted positively to the likelihood that Shabana Mahmood will be named chancellor.
"That's good for now, but it's what comes next that really matters. Bond investors are looking for any clues on public spending intentions, how they will be funded, and any policies that deviate from the path pursued under the Starmer-Reeves regime," Mould continued. "Burnham's big speech later today might offer a glimpse at what he wants to achieve but is unlikely to give the full picture."
The pound was quoted higher at USD1.3473 midday on Monday, compared to USD1.3431 on Friday. Against the euro, sterling rose to EUR1.1775 from EUR1.1753 a day prior.
The euro stood lower at USD1.1436, against USD1.1441. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY162.39 compared to JPY162.37.
The yield on the UK 10-year gilt was 4.98% around midday on Monday.
Stocks in New York were called higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called up 0.3%, the S&P 500 index up 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.6%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.56%, widening from 4.53%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 5.08%, widening from 5.06%.
Brent oil was quoted higher at USD88.28 a barrel at midday in London on Monday from USD86.53 late Friday.
Gold was quoted higher at USD4,021.96 an ounce against USD4,014.29.
Segro, having been the lowest-performing FTSE 100 stock earlier on Monday, was down by a relatively slight 0.4%, having rejected US rival Prologis' sweetened takeover bid which values the London-based warehouse landlord at GBP13.5 billion.
However, it said it met with Prologis management on Sunday "to understand Prologis' ability to improve its financial terms to a level that could be capable of being recommended by the board of Segro".
As Segro shareholders would own 9.2% of the enlarged company, Prologis said it will "explore the feasibility" of a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange, if there is "sufficient investor demand".
On the FTSE 250, Frasers gained 3.0%.
The Shirebrook, England-based owner of House of Fraser and Sports Direct is starting an up to GBP80.0 million share buyback programme, which it expects to end in mid-September.
Big Yellow was down 1.2%.
The Bagshot, England-based self-storage group reported a "resilient performance" in its first quarter, with total revenue increasing 3.3% to GBP53.2 million and like-for-like revenue rising 2.2% to GBP52.2 million.
Closing occupancy as a percentage fell to 76.6% from 79.4%, while like-for-like occupancy was down at 79.2% from 79.4%.
Chief Executive Officer Jim Gibson noted "the current fiscal and budgetary uncertainties, which will likely not be clarified until the autumn," but said Big Yellow continues to "focus on disciplined cost control".
On AIM, Craneware lost 8.7%.
The Edinburgh-based healthcare financial performance solution provider said it identified and is responding to a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorised access to a subset of its data environment.
Craneware said a significant volume of file names were viewed and exfiltrated, including a subset of customer and partner records and a percentage of employee data. However, it believes that "a large element of the data involved is non-sensitive or already public".
Still to come on Monday's economic calendar, Canada has consumer price inflation.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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