4th Aug 2025 09:08
(Alliance News) - European blue-chips opened in the green on Monday, as shares in Lloyds and Close Brothers jump on news of potential motor finance compensation schemes.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 35.24 points, 0.4%, at 9,103.82. The FTSE 250 was up 132.26 points, 0.6%, at 21,831.60, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.22 points, 0.2%, at 758.38.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.4% at 909.49, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.6% at 19,174.83, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.5% at 17,397.33.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris improved 0.9%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.8%.
Lloyds Banking led the FTSE 100 at London's market open, up 7.5%.
The bank said it has undertaken an initial assessment of the implications following the UK Supreme Court's judgement delivered on Friday in the appeals brought by Wrench, Johnson and Hopcraft.
The company noted that the judgement overturned the Court of Appeal's decision regarding fiduciary duties and bribery, ruling that motor dealers acting as credit brokers do not owe fiduciary duties to their customers and that commission payments in this context do not constitute bribes. The court found unfairness in Johnson's case and awarded a refund of the commission paid, plus interest at a commercial rate.
Lloyds noted that its existing provision was established using a range of scenarios to reflect uncertainties around key assumptions-including potential Supreme Court outcomes, regulatory responses, and redress implications.
While the judgement provides greater clarity, several uncertainties remain, Lloyds noted, adding that the group continues to assess multiple scenarios in its provisioning approach.
On Sunday, the UK Financial Conduct Authority announced its intention to consult on an industry-wide redress scheme, expected by early October. The FCA also outlined additional factors for consultation.
Merchant bank Close Brothers welcomed the outcome of the appeal, adding it provides clarity on important legal and commercial principles. Close Brothers further noted the FCA's intention to consult on an industry-wide redress scheme, to which it looks forward to.
Close Brothers jumped 21% on the FTSE 250 at London's market open.
Europa Oil & Gas rose 35%.
The UK and Ireland-focused oil and gas exploration, development and production company said Antler Global has entered commercial talks and signed a non-binding head of terms with an unnamed "major" energy company to farm-out an interest in the EG-08 production sharing contract in offshore Equatorial Guinea.
Europa holds a 42.9% stake in Antler, which in turn holds an 80% working interest in the EG-08 contract. The remaining 20% is hold by GEPetrol, the national oil company of Equatorial Guinea.
Westmount Energy was up 21%.
The oil and gas investment firm focused on Guyana-Suriname Basin noted investee Africa Oil has restarted exploration drilling at Block 2913B.
Westmount also noted Africa Oil's completion of two 3D seismic acquisition programs during 2024, which has resulted in most of the Block 2913B and Block 2912 licensed area now being covered by 3D seismic. This enables "the potential for discovery of significant additional resources via follow-on high impact exploration drilling", Westmount explained. Africa Oil is also progressing plans for a phase 1 development scheme at the Venus project.
At the other end, Goldplat sank 7.4%.
The gold miner and producer with recovery operations in Ghana and South Africa now expects full-year results to be "materially below" current market expectations, with adjusted pretax profit guided around GBP2.6 million. This would be a 57% decline from GBP6.0 million the year before.
Goldplat said this was "driven principally by changes in the business model in Ghana during the year and significant foreign exchange losses towards the end of the financial year". The company declared an interim dividend of 0.0878 pence per share.
Brent oil was quoted lower at USD69.66 a barrel early in London on Monday from USD69.78 late Friday. Gold was quoted up at USD3,355.96 an ounce against USD3,349.92.
"The early reaction on the crude futures re-open was to sell, and while the initial downside reaction in Brent and WTI crude was contained, it was at odds relative to the modest gains seen in S&P500 futures and other risk markets, so its unsurprising that crude is gravitating back to the flat line as we inch closer to the London session," said Pepperstone analyst Chris Weston.
"OPEC+ weekend move to increase output by 547k barrels was well telegraphed and discounted, so the early decline spoke more to liquidity conditions and a thinned order book dynamic and a maintenance of positioning from Asia-based traders...where OPEC+ go from here with its ongoing production quota's and monitoring attracts strong debate among energy traders, but this supply-factor is not the only game in town driving the crude futures curve, and client interactions highlight that there is also a firm focus on Russia and potential sanctions here, with its trade partners also in the spotlight, whilst inventory levels also require attention, as does the re-emergence of left-tail risk in the US and the dynamic pricing and assumptions of US economic activity."
The pound was quoted up at USD1.3272 early on Monday in London, compared to USD1.3247 at the equities close on Friday. The euro stood higher at USD1.557, against USD1.1538. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY147.97 compared to JPY148.12.
In Asia on Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo lost 1.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained 0.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed marginally higher.
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average fading 1.2%, the S&P 500 slipping 1.6% and the Nasdaq Composite falling 2.2%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.25%, widening from 4.24%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.86%, stretching from 4.81%.
Still to come on Monday's economic calendar, US factory orders data at 1500 BST.
By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
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