Stock prices in London closed predominantly higher on Monday, joining European peers in a relatively upbeat finish, following news that US President Joe Biden will not stand for re-election.
Amongst individual stocks, airlines slid after Ryanair’s warning. Rentokil led the FTSE 100 higher, though, after former BT boss eyed a bid to take over the pest control firm.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 43.06 points, 0.5%, at 8,198.78. The FTSE 250 ended up 71.00 points, 0.3%, at 21,138.68, and the AIM All-Share closed down 0.89 of a point, 0.1%, at 783.24.
The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.8% at 819.01, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.6% at 18,471.98, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.2% at 17,315.81.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 1.2%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended up 1.4%.
Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close, with the DJIA up 0.4%, the S&P 500 index up 1.0%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.5%.
On Sunday, 81-year-old Biden bowed to Democratic concerns over his age and capacity to beat Republican Donald Trump in November.
The veteran Democrat said it had been the ‘greatest honour of my life’ to be president and promised to address the nation later this week.
Biden’s exit makes him the first president in 56 years not to seek a second term, and the first in US history to quit so late in the calendar.
‘Vice President Kamala Harris being endorsed by Biden helps to avoid any panic on markets for now, given she provides continuity and experience supporting the current President. That means the focus for markets in the near-term is likely to be investors reassessing any previous trades they made when it looked like Donald Trump would get back into power,’ said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.
The dollar was mostly weaker on Monday, as financial markets weighed Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race.
‘At face value, a weakening dollar might suggest traders would have favoured the relative stability of a second Biden term in the White House. But Donald Trump was already a clear front-runner, ever since Biden’s disastrous debate performance last month,’ said Neil Roarty at Stocklytics.
‘The greenback has surged in value over the last couple of years, particularly as the Fed raised interest rates. Trump has previously said that he prefers a weaker dollar to help domestic manufacturers sell abroad. With Trump holding a commanding lead across most polls and prediction markets, this first downwards tick might just be the beginning of a greater trend.’
The pound was quoted at $1.2913 at the London equities close Monday, down compared to $1.2915 at the close on Friday. The euro stood at $1.0881 at the European equities close Monday, lower against $1.0885 at the same time on Friday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥156.88, lower compared to JP¥157.36 late Friday.
In the FTSE 100, Rentokil jumped 7.8%.
The former chief executive officer of BT Group is leading a possible takeover offer for pest control firm, the Times reported on Sunday.
Philip Jansen is in talks with private equity firms over a plan that would see him become executive chair of the FTSE 100 company, the newspaper said without citing sources. The Times noted that Jansen is close to Bain Capital.
Airlines, however, sat at the other end of the large-cap index, with easyJet falling 7.1% and British Airways parent IAG giving back 3.4%. In the FTSE 250, Wizz Air lost 10%. In Dublin, Ryanair plunged 16%.
Ryanair said quarterly profit nearly halved, as revenue declined slightly due to lower ticket prices despite carrying more passengers. The weakness in fares is expected to continue throughout the summer, it warned.
In Frankfurt, Lufthansa eased 0.6%, while in Paris Air-France KLM slipped 1.6%.
In the FTSE 250, Ocado rose 12%, after Kroger Co placed an order for a range of new automated technologies.
The Hatfield, England-based online grocer and technology licensor called this a ‘significant’ development of its partnership with Kroger, a leading US grocery retailer.
Cincinnati, Ohio-based Kroger will roll out the technologies across multiple existing customer fulfilment centres across its network, as well as future CFCs.
Amongst London’s small-caps, Ceres Power jumped 7.5%.
The Horsham, England-based clean energy technology developer said it has signed a long-term global licence agreement with an unnamed original equipment manufacturer, for the manufacture of its solid oxide electrolyser cell technology.
Also on Monday, Ceres said it expects first-half revenue to soar to between £27 million and £29 million, more than double the £11.7 million it generated the year before.
Brent oil was quoted at $82.15 a barrel at the London equities close Monday, down from $84.04 late Friday. Gold was quoted at $2,397.10 an ounce at the London equities close Monday, lower against $2,404.10 at the close on Friday.
In Tuesday’s UK corporate calendar, there are trading statements from Compass Group and JTC. There are also full year results from Serco.
The economic calendar for Tuesday has a eurozone consumer confidence reading.
Looking ahead to the rest of the week, US economic data will take centre spotlight. There is a gross domestic product reading on Thursday, before the Federal Reserve’s preferred core personal consumption expenditures inflation gauge on Friday.
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