9th Feb 2026 09:21
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Monday as strength in mining stocks offset weakness among banks, while European markets took cues from a strong finish on Wall Street and a rally across Asia after Japan's election of Sanae Takaichi as prime minister.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 26.09 points, 0.3%, at 10,397.64. The FTSE 250 was up 118.31 points, 0.5%, at 23,327.78, and the AIM all-share was up 6.38 points, 0.8%, at 813.18.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.3% at 1,038.22, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.5% at 10,38.22, and the Cboe small companies was up 0.2% at 18,595.39.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.4%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.9%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3594 early Monday, lower than USD1.3612 at the London equities close on Friday. The euro traded at USD1.1852, higher than USD1.1814. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY156.77, down versus JPY157.04.
Gold was quoted at USD5,023.00 an ounce early Monday, higher than USD4,946.87 on Friday.
The rise in gold prices lifted mining stocks in London, with Antofagasta, Endeavour Mining and Fresnillo among the top performers on the index, up 3.0%, 2.8% and 2.5% respectively.
At the bottom of the blue-chip index, NatWest was down 4.1% after confirming a GBP2.7 billion deal to buy wealth manager Evelyn Partners, following earlier press reports, and announcing a new GBP750 million share buyback.
NatWest said the acquisition from Permira & Warburg Pincus will create the UK's "leading" private banking and wealth-management business. Evelyn Partners brings GBP69 billion in assets under management and administration, taking the combined total to GBP127 billion.
It expects around GBP100 million in annual cost synergies and said the deal will be accretive to growth and returns in its first year of ownership.
NatWest will fund the purchase from existing resources, noting the acquisition is expected to reduce its common equity tier 1 ratio by around 130 basis points.
The deal marks the first major acquisition for NatWest after being fully privately owned for less than a year, after the UK government sold its remaining stake in May and confirmed a GBP10.5 billion loss since the bank's 2008 bailout.
In Asia on Monday, Japan's Nikkei 225 index jumped 3.9% after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party secured a landslide election victory, reportedly winning more than two-thirds of seats in the powerful lower house of parliament.
The result gives Takaichi, Japan's first female prime minister who took office in late October, an unusually strong mandate just months into her term.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said: "[The result] gives her party its most dominant position in decades and a strong mandate to push through an expansive fiscal agenda, particularly benefiting defense and technology."
The result also drew a sharp response from Beijing, which warned Tokyo that reckless actions would be met with a "resolute response".
China and Japan have been at odds over comments by Takaichi suggesting Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan, which China claims as its territory. Chinese spokesman Lin Jian urged Japan to retract the comments and warned of consequences for any rash actions.
In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 1.9%
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended sharply higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumping 2.5% to cross the 50,000 mark for the first time ever. The S&P 500 rose 2.0%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.2%.
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 4.88%, widening from 4.87% on Friday.
Back in the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to meet Labour MPs later on Monday after Morgan McSweeney quit as his chief of staff, taking responsibility for advising the prime minister to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador last year.
Starmer is expected to address MPs at the weekly Parliamentary Labour Party meeting as he faces mounting pressure, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch saying his position is "untenable" and claiming the UK is "not being governed".
On the FTSE 250, Greggs was at the bottom of the index, down 4.8%, after Jefferies cut the stock to 'hold' from 'buy' and slashed its price target to 1,610 pence from 2,500 pence.
At the other end, Plus500 jumped 6.8% after saying it has started 2026 with "significant" momentum and now expects full-year earnings to come in ahead of current market expectations.
The Haifa-based trading platform provider reported 2025 pretax profit of USD338.9 million, slightly up from USD337.2 million a year earlier, while revenue rose to USD792.4 million from USD768.3 million.
Trading income increased to USD729.6 million from USD711.6 million, while interest income rose to USD62.8 million from USD56.7 million.
The group said momentum has continued into the new financial year, supported by active markets, new product launches such as prediction markets, and the completion of its Mehta Equities acquisition in India.
It reiterated confidence in its diversified growth strategy and robust balance sheet, noting shareholder returns of USD187.5 million announced on Monday, comprising dividends of USD87.5 million and share buybacks of USD100 million.
Among smaller caps, Altona Rare Earths surged 54% after saying support from the US Trade & Development Agency is intended to help define the technical and financial pathway for its Monte Muambe project. The company said it expects to receive assay results from its fluorspar and gallium drilling campaign and described the backing as powerful external validation of the project.
Brent oil was trading at USD67.54 a barrel early Monday, lower than USD68.47 late Friday.
Still to come on Monday's economic calendar are US consumer inflation expectations.
By Eva Castanedo, Alliance News reporter
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