29th Sep 2025 09:02
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Monday amid gains for GSK and AstraZeneca, while the gold price continued to climb.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 60.54 points, 0.7%, at 9,345.37. The FTSE 250 was up 140.25 points, 0.7%, at 21,821.73, and the AIM All-Share was up 4.26 points, 0.6%, at 781.79.
The Cboe UK 100 was 0.7% higher at 935.81, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.8% at 19,105.69, and the Cboe Small Companies was 0.3% higher at 17,561.17.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.2%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.1%.
Sterling was at USD1.3444, up from USD1.3399 at the London equities close on Friday. The euro traded at USD1.1726, up from USD1.1692 late Friday. Against the yen, the dollar was lower at JPY148.59 versus JPY149.51.
In Asia on Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo shed 0.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.9% higher, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong climbed 1.9%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed 0.9% higher.
Wall Street ended higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.7%, the S&P 500 0.6% higher and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.4%.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury narrowed to 4.14% from 4.18% on Friday. The yield on the 30-year slimmed to 4.72% from 4.75%.
In London, GSK was the best performer on the FTSE 100 index and gained 3.6%.
The pharmaceutical firm said it has appointed Chief Commercial Officer Luke Miels as chief executive officer designate, to become CEO at the start of 2026.
Miels will succeed current CEO Emma Walmsley on January 1.
Miels has "outstanding global biopharma development and commercial experience, together with a deep understanding of the company, its prospects and its people," said Chair Jonathan Symonds.
"On behalf of the board, I want to thank Emma and acknowledge her outstanding leadership in delivering a strategic transformation of GSK, including the successful demerger of Haleon. GSK today is necessarily very different to the company she was appointed to nine years ago and has a bright and ambitious future," Chair Symonds added.
Elsewhere, AstraZeneca climbed 1.6%.
The pharmaceutical company said it plans to harmonise its share listing structure but will continue to be listed, headquartered and tax resident in the UK.
The firm recommended to shareholders a harmonised listing structure for its shares across the London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq Stockholm and the New York Stock Exchange.
This will require upgrading the existing US listing with a direct listing of ordinary shares on the NYSE, replacing the existing US listing of American depositary receipts. This would mean that shareholders will be able to trade their interests in AstraZeneca across the three markets.
In a separate release, AstraZeneca said its drug Enhertu showed a "highly statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement" in invasive disease-free survival in patients with high-risk early breast cancer compared to trastuzumab emtansine.
"This landmark trial is the first to directly compare Enhertu and T-DM1 in early breast cancer, and the results clearly show that Enhertu delivers superior outcomes, indicating that it may be a better option for patients with high-risk HER2-positive disease in the post-neoadjuvant setting," said Executive Vice President Susan Galbraith.
Enhertu was discovered by Tokyo-based pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo and is being jointly developed and commercialised by the two companies.
Shares in Admiral Group were up 2.0% after Jefferies raised the insurer to a 'buy' rating from 'hold', with a price target of 4,100 pence, up from 2,550p.
Fermi announced a plan for a secondary listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.
The company develops on-demand power generation projects for artificial intelligence servers. It is developing a site in Amarillo, Texas that plans to deliver up to 11 gigawatts of power by building a grid to house one of the largest nuclear power complexes in the US.
The real estate investment trust plans to market 25 million shares for a listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market for between USD18 and USD22 each. At the top of that range, it would have a market value of USD13.2 billion.
On the FTSE 250 index, Genuit Group shares advanced 2.9%.
The Leeds, England-based provider of water, climate and ventilation systems for buildings and infrastructure said it has acquired Davidson Holdings for GBP49.0 million on a debt-free and cash-free basis.
Davidson is made up of brands in the plumbing and heating sectors including Salamander Pumps, Cistermiser, Talon and Keraflo. It is expected to deliver full-year revenue of GBP32.8 million in 2025.
"Davidson is an excellent fit with the existing businesses within [Sustainable Building Solutions], adding to our portfolio of strong brands alongside Polypipe, Manthorpe and Terrain. We see opportunities to grow Davidson's products by utilising our existing strong market positions, as well as combining certain product ranges to provide higher value-added solutions to customers," said Genuit CEO Joe Vorih.
Shares in Hilton Food Group fell 0.2%.
The food packaging company said it has sold Fairfax Meadow Europe to Sysco GB for gross cash proceeds of GBP54 million.
Hilton said it expects the transaction, which includes a three-year supply agreement with Hilton Food Solutions, to be earnings dilutive.
On the AIM market, Eqtec shares jumped 14%.
The licensor of syngas technology for conversion of waste into sustainable energy and biofuels said revenue fell 56% to EUR635,984 in the six months to the end of June from EUR1.4 million a year ago.
However, pretax loss narrowed to EUR2.1 million from EUR3.2 million, as administrative expenses fell 22% to EUR1.8 million from EUR2.3 million and finance costs plunged 60% to EUR618,950 from EUR1.5 million.
"While external headwinds have constrained revenue growth in [the first half of 2025], we have maintained strong gross margins and continued to advance strategically important projects in Europe and the USA," said CEO David Palumbo.
Tern shares dropped 20%.
The internet-of-things focused investor announced an open offer to raise up to GBP642,486 before expenses through the issue of up to 128.5 million shares at 0.50p each.
The issue price represents a discount of 20% to the closing market price on Monday.
Gold was higher at USD3,806.40 an ounce early on Monday from USD3.775.97 late Friday. Brent oil was trading lower at USD68.46 a barrel from USD70.64.
Still to come on Monday's economic calendar are UK mortgage approvals figures due shortly, and US pending home sales numbers later in the afternoon.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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Related Shares:
GlaxosmithklineAstrazenecaAdmiralGenuit GroupHilton FoodsEqtecTern