London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.7% at 7,289.49 in afternoon trade on Monday.
BT was the standout gainer after the telecoms group confirmed that it has delivered on its £1bn of gross annualised cost savings 18 months ahead of its March 2023 target.
The one line statement from BT followed a report over the weekend that the company would assert this week that the cost-cutting programme was ahead of schedule.
Darktrace was under the cosh as the end of an investor lock-up period approached. The company was set up in 2013 by Autonomy founder Mike Lynch. Along with his wife Angela Bacares, Lynch retains a 15.98% stake and Lynch and Bacares – along with other major investors – will be free to start selling down their holdings from Wednesday.
Housebuilders were also in the red amid the prospect of increased mortgage costs, with Barratt Developments, Taylor Wimpey, Berkeley and Persimmon all weaker.
IG market analyst Joshua Mahony said: “Thursday’s Bank of England rate decision represents one of the most important events of the week for traders, with markets signalling a 57% chance that we will see the first rate rise since 2018.
“However, it is the longer-term outlook which holds particular interest for the housebuilders, with traders seeing a 59% chance that rates will top 1% by June 2022. While the removal of all stamp duty holiday benefits has thrown caution to the wind for investors, the prospect of a significant jump in interest rates is going to do little to help bolster support for the housebuilding stocks.”
FTSE 100 – Risers
BT Group (BT.A) 144.45p 4.00%
Fresnillo (FRES) 890.20p 3.13%
Next (NXT) 8,188.00p 2.79%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 508.40p 2.73%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,020.00p 2.55%
Royal Mail (RMG) 429.90p 2.24%
SSE (SSE) 1,680.00p 2.22%
M&G (MNG) 204.00p 2.10%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,279.00p 1.91%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,381.00p 1.88%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Darktrace (DARK) 700.50p -12.71%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 641.40p -3.26%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 150.45p -2.65%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,242.00p -2.59%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,656.00p -2.39%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 293.60p -1.94%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,775.00p -1.55%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,515.00p -1.21%
Barclays (BARC) 200.05p -1.09%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 380.20p -0.83%
