London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.5% at 7,517.21in afternoon trade on Monday.
British Airways and Iberia owner IAG was the standout gainer on the index.
On the downside, aerospace and defence giant Rolls-Royce slid, having surged late on Friday after markets blog Betaville said it might be involved in a “significant corporate transaction, such as a merger or even a takeover offer for the business itself”. According to Betaville, an unknown suitor may be in the early stages of weighing a deal “for or with Rolls-Royce”.
Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: “With nothing confirmed so far, the shares are losing steam this morning. However they are still trading significantly above Thursday’s close, suggesting there is still some M&A premium in the price with investors pinning their hopes on an approach.”
Barclays was under the cosh on news the bank expects to take a £450m charge and will delay a share buyback until the second quarter after issuing almost double as many US structured notes and exchange traded notes as it had registered for sale.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said this was “a very expensive mistake and one which will both hit the company’s credibility and frustrate shareholders looking forward to a now delayed share buyback”.
Miners Antofagasta and Anglo were both lower as metals prices fell.
FTSE 100 – Risers
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 141.84p 3.29%
Aviva (AV.) 451.80p 3.20%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,598.00p 2.72%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,015.00p 2.57%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,710.50p 2.55%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 273.70p 2.32%
WPP (WPP) 1,063.50p 2.31%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,535.50p 2.30%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 142.10p 2.23%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,100.50p 2.18%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 99.43p -9.72%
BAE Systems (BA.) 733.00p -2.91%
Barclays (BARC) 164.48p -1.69%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,707.50p -1.59%
BP (BP.) 386.20p -1.40%
Ferguson (FERG) 10,360.00p -1.10%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,941.50p -0.94%
Entain (ENT) 1,652.00p -0.84%
Rightmove (RMV) 644.20p -0.74%
Royal Mail (RMG) 358.20p -0.53%
