18th Aug 2025 08:54
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Monday, as investors digest last week's meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and look to the Jackson Hole symposium and key data releases later in the week.
Pepperstone's Michael Brown said that on Friday, "we seemed to spend all day waiting for news from the Trump-Putin meeting, which turned out to be rather a damp squib...the summit yielded nothing by way of concrete progress, and seemed to pretty much be a meeting about having another meeting to arrange more meetings, all while not achieving much."
He added: "While Zelensky and Trump will meet today, and that may bear some fruit, I shan't be holding my breath."
The FTSE 100 index opened up 15.23 points, 0.2%, at 9,154.13. The FTSE 250 was up 40.53 points, 0.2%, at 21,798.77, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.84 points, 0.1%, at 761.41.
The Cboe UK 100 was up marginally at 916.47, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 19,168.52, and the Cboe Small Companies was up marginally at 16,109.15.
On the FTSE 100, Babcock International was the second-highest stock with a 2.4% rise after RBC gave it an 'outperform' rating with a 1,200 pence target. Fellow defence company BAE Systems followed, up 1.5%.
Miners were among the large-cap laggers: Anglo American led, down 1.2%, followed by Antofagasta which lost 1.1%. Glencore and Rio Tinto lost 0.9%.
Among smaller companies, Faron Pharmaceuticals was up 2.4%. It had opened up 9.5%.
The biopharmaceutical company said it received "positive and valuable feedback" from the US Food & Drug Administration, regarding its proposed clinical development plan leading to approval for bexmarilimab.
Faron said the feedback included input on trial design, dosing strategy and clinical endpoints for its planned phase 2/3 trial of bexmarilimab with azacitidine for treatment-naive higher-risk myelodysplastic syndrome.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.7%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.1%.
The pound was quoted lower at USD1.3546 early on Monday in London, compared to USD1.3566 at the equities close on Friday. The euro stood at USD1.1697, lower against USD1.1712. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at JPY147.20 compared to JPY146.90.
In Asia on Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 0.8%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was marginally lower. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.2%.
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.1%, the S&P 500 down 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.4%.
"In the US, indices hover near record highs as markets expect the Federal Reserve (Fed) to cut rates at its September meeting — potentially even by 50bp under political pressure from the White House," commented Swissquote's Ipek Ozkardeskaya. "Attention now turns to Jerome Powell's appearance at the Jackson Hole symposium this week.
"While the official theme is labour markets, investors will scrutinise any hint of September policy direction, especially after last week's mixed inflation data...Any progress on Ukraine peace talks could push global equities higher still. If not, any dip is likely to be quickly bought."
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.29%, narrowing from 4.31%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.89%, narrowing from 4.90%.
Brent oil was quoted at USD65.75 a barrel early in London on Monday, down from USD66.33 late Friday.
In light of the Trump-Putin meeting, Ozkardeskaya commented that "so far there are no signs of fresh tensions with Russia and no new sanctions on countries such as China and India that continue buying Russian oil.
"US crude opened the week with a gap lower but has since recovered part of its losses...Hopes of progress are keeping oil bears encouraged — with risks that prices test below USD60pb — but disappointment remains a clear possibility."
Gold was quoted higher at USD3,349.71 an ounce against USD3,343.39.
Ozkardeskaya noted that "gold demand remains strong — showing investors are cautious ahead of Trump's meeting with Zelensky.
"Material progress could spark further oil weakness, a rally across equities, and softer gold demand. Disappointment would bring oil bulls back, pressure equities (except defence), and lift gold toward its 50-DMA and record highs."
Still to come on Monday's economic calendar is the eurozone trade balance release.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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