11th Aug 2025 09:11
(Alliance News) - Equities in Europe opened mixed on Monday, with the FTSE 100 outperforming, ahead of key US data on Tuesday and talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin later in the week.
The FTSE 100 index traded up 31.62 points, 0.4%, at 9,127.35. The FTSE 250 added 3.96 points at 21,962.51, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.68 of a point, 0.1%, at 761.78.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.4% at 913.70, the Cboe UK 250 was flat at 19,355.57, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.2% at 17,158.77.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was flat, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt lost 0.1%.
Sterling rose to USD1.3454 on Monday, from USD1.3450 at the time of the London equities close on Friday. The euro fell to USD1.1651 from USD1.1666, while against the yen, the buck faded to JPY147.40 from JPY147.73.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury faded to 4.26% on Monday, from 4.29% at the time of the London equities close on Friday. The yield on the 30-year eased to 4.82% from 4.86%.
In Tokyo on Monday, financial markets were closed for Mountain Day. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.3% in afternoon trade, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was up 0.1%. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.4%.
A barrel of Brent eased to USD66.14 early Monday, from USD66.63 late Friday afternoon. Gold declined to USD3,360.83 an ounce from USD3,393.20.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank commented: "As we move into mid-August, markets are bracing for a surprisingly busy week, with several key events and data releases likely to shape sentiment. The most closely watched will be tomorrow's US CPI report, which could prove to be one of the larger events of the summer for markets.
"Also on the radar is Friday's high-stakes meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska as the US has pushed for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Last Friday Trump said a deal would involve "some swapping of territories" with reports suggesting that it would see Ukraine ceding Russia the parts of Donbas that it still controls. Ukraine's President Zelenskiy was quick to reject the idea and European leaders have called for any peace talks with Russia to include Kyiv."
The US is working to "schedule" a meeting between Donald Trump and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, Vice President JD Vance said Sunday, as Ukraine's European allies push for Kyiv's presence at the US-Russia summit in Alaska this week.
"One of the most important logjams is that Vladimir Putin said that he would never sit down with (Volodymyr) Zelensky, the head of Ukraine, and the president has now got that to change," Vance said during an interview on Fox News program "Sunday Morning Futures."
"We're at a point now where we're trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict," Vance said when asked about his expectations for the Alaska summit on August 15.
The vice president said the US was going to "try to find some negotiated settlement that the Ukrainians and Russians can live with."
In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%, the S&P 500 added 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite shot up 1.0%.
A recent US employment report confirmed "signs of fragility" in the labour market, a senior central bank official said Saturday, backing three interest rate cuts this year to guard against further weakening.
In prepared remarks to a summit in Colorado, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman called for a "proactive approach" in lowering the benchmark lending rate.
Doing so "would help avoid a further unnecessary erosion in labour market conditions" and reduce the chance that the Fed's rate-setting committee will need to make a larger cut if the jobs market worsened further, she said.
Bowman also made the case that price increases from President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs this year will likely represent "a one-time effect."
She expects inflation will return to the Fed's 2% target after the tariff effects dissipate.
UK data this week will keep the Bank of England in focus, meanwhile. The BoE cut by 25 basis points last week Thursday, though there was a hawkish slant to the vote split.
"The Bank of England’s narrowly approved rate cut last week can generate some long-lasting momentum for the pound, should data endorse the MPC hawks’ inflation concerns and relaxed stance on the jobs market slowdown. Tomorrow, we’ll see employment data for July," analysts at ING commented.
"On Thursday, second-quarter GDP should show the downward tariff distortion observed in many countries. We expect a 0.2% quarter-on-quarter print, slightly above the consensus 0.1%."
In London, Marshalls fell 2.2%. It reported an increase in half-year revenue, but its bottom line shrunk on a "less profitable product mix". The maker of landscaping products said pretax profit in the six months to June 30 fell 46% to GBP11.7 million from GBP21.5 million a year prior. Revenue increased 4.2% to GBP319.5 million from GBP306.7 million.
Net operating costs were 8.5% higher at GBP301.4 million.
"The group returned to revenue growth of four per cent in the first half of the year despite a subdued market. This performance reflects the benefits of our diversified portfolio, with Building & Roofing Products delivering good revenue and operating profit growth, and Landscaping Products reporting solid volume growth during the period although at lower profitability," CEO Matt Palmer said.
Marshalls cut its interim dividend by 15% to 2.2 pence per share from 2.6p.
Looking ahead, it said: "Mindful of continuing uncertainty in the macro-economic environment, the board currently sees no improvement in market activity levels through the remainder of 2025."
It expects adjusted pretax profit for 2025 between GBP42 million and GBP46 million. Adjusted pretax profit in the first half fell 17% to GBP22.0 million.
S4 Capital shot up 9.7%. Advertising agency S4 Capital said it has received a combination proposal from MSQ Partners, with talks between the duo "at a very preliminary stage".
In response to a press report, the firm said a deal, if agreed, would be structured as a buyout of MSQ by S4. MSQ is majority owned by One Equity Partners.
Sky News on Saturday reported S4 Executive Chair Martin Sorrell has been contacted by various parties over merger proposals, including private equity firm One Equity Partners.
Sky News reported S4 has attracted interest elsewhere, but the identities of those potential suitors could not be immediately established.
Gemfields advanced 4.8%. It agreed to sell its entire interest in luxury brand Faberge to SMG Capital for USD50 million.
The Faberge sale concludes its strategic review, first announced in December last year. With the sale of Faberge and the discontinuance of other non-core projects, the miner and marketer of coloured gemstones said it is now streamlined and focused investment proposition.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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