1st Sep 2025 09:03
(Alliance News) - European equities kicked off the week in the green on Monday, following a soft UK house price growth reading and ahead of a quiet day in the US as financial markets closed for Labor Day.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 28.73 points, 0.3%, at 9,216.07. The FTSE 250 was up 50.91 points, 0.2%, at 21,656.63, and the AIM All-Share was up 5.37 points, 0.7%, at 769.47.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 924.54, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 18,994.80, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.4% at 17,325.33.
UK annual house price growth softened in August as affordability concerns continue to weigh on buyers, data from Nationwide showed on Monday.
The Nationwide house price index showed a 0.1% monthly decline in seasonally adjusted UK house prices in August, weakening from 0.5% growth a month earlier. This underperformed against an FXStreet-cited consensus of 0.2% growth.
In August, the average non-seasonally adjusted UK house price stood at GBP271,079, falling from GBP272,664 in July. Annually, the house price index rose by 2.1%, slowing from 2.4% growth a month earlier.
The pound was quoted up at USD1.3517 early on Monday in London, compared to USD1.3510 at the equities close on Friday. The euro stood higher at USD1.1717, against USD1.1699. Against the yen, the dollar was trading up at JPY147.14 compared to JPY146.92.
In European equities on Monday, both the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt advanced 0.5%.
European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde voiced concern Monday about the risks of the French government collapsing, warning that political turmoil in any eurozone country weighs on markets. Lagarde was responding to a French radio question about a September 8 confidence vote that could topple the minority government of Prime Minister Francois Bayrou.
"All risks of government collapse in any eurozone country are worrying," Lagarde told Radio Classique.
"Political developments, and the emergence of political risks, have an obvious impact on the economy, on how financial markets assess country risk, and are therefore a concern for us," she said.
Bayrou stunned France last week by calling a confidence vote following months of deadlock over his government's plans to slash France's mounting public debt.
Leading London's FTSE 250, Kainos jumped 14%.
The London-based Workday partner and provider of IT services to public sector, commercial, and healthcare customers said it delivered a sequential improvement in the period from April 1 to date, building on a "solid" fourth-quarter 2025 performance.
As a result, Kainos now expects revenue for the financial year ending March 31 at the upper end of the consensus range of forecasts of GBP378.0 million to GBP393.4 million, which would be growth of as much as 7.1% from GBP367.2 million the year prior.
The company said it is maintaining a "prudent" outlook and anticipates delivering adjusted pretax profit in line with current consensus forecasts of GBP65.1 million to GBP74.7 million, growth of as much as 14% from GBP65.6 million the year prior.
Domino's Pizza rose 4.2%, as the pizza brand on Monday launched a share buyback programme for up to GBP20 million. The programme is given no specific end date, but the company said it will be reviewed later in the year.
Domino's said its expectations for 2025 remain unchanged from the time of its interim results, except that it now expects higher year-end net debt.
Early in August, the company lowered its annual guidance, citing "weak" consumer confidence. It guided underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation of GBP130 million to GBP140 million. This would be down from GBP143.4 million in 2024. It also had guided year-end net debt of GBP260 million to GBP280 million but on Monday says it now expects this to be GBP280 million to GBP300 million.
At the other end, Team Internet fell 5.5%.
The London-based internet services company swung to pretax loss of USD14.6 million for the six months that ended June 30, from USD14.4 million in profit the year before. Revenue slumped 36% to USD263.9 million from USD409.7 million.
This reflected the firm's planned transition away from legacy AdSense for Domains monetisation within its Search segment, Team Internet said. The board remains "confident" in its outlook.
In Asia on Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo shed 1.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite improved 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 2.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.5%.
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average edging down 0.2%, the S&P 500 falling 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite fading 1.2%. US financial markets are closed on Monday for Labor Day.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.23%, widening from 4.22%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.92%, stretching from 4.89%.
"US equity markets ended the week on a mixed note, with most major indexes closing modestly lower as investors entered the long Labor Day holiday weekend. Trading activity was relatively subdued, although small-cap stocks stood out: Russell 2000 posted its third consecutive week of gains, outperforming the S&P 500. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average touched a new record high midweek before retreating into negative territory by Friday’s close," commented DHF Capital analyst Bas Kooijman.
Kooijman continued: "Political developments also weighed on sentiment. President Donald Trump announced the dismissal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, citing allegations of mortgage fraud. Cook has filed a lawsuit to block the move, raising questions over the independence of the Fed.
"Meanwhile, Fed Governor Christopher Waller reiterated his call for a 25-basis-point interest rate cut in September and signaled that further cuts could follow over the next six months, citing increased risks to the labor market and slowing economic activity."
Brent oil was quoted up at USD67.77 a barrel early in London on Monday from USD67.41 late Friday. Gold was quoted higher at USD3,470.60 an ounce against USD3,445.38.
Still to come on Monday's economic calendar, a slew of manufacturing PMI releases, eurozone unemployment figures, and UK mortgage approvals data.
By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to [email protected]
Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Kainos GroupDominosTeam Internet