European markets largely started the week nervously on Monday, save for Paris, where initial French election results reassured investors.
The week has key indicators and central bank moves to come, as consumer price data for Germany and the US are reported on Tuesday, before the UK on Wednesday and a European Central Bank interest date decision on Thursday.
Covid-19 worries in China hit oil prices at the start of the week, meanwhile, with Brent trading below the $100 a barrel mark.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 51.25 points, or 0.7%, at 7,618.31 on Monday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index ended down 59.24 points, or 0.3%, at 21,115.08, while the AIM All-Share index fell just 0.36 of a point to 1,055.53.
The Cboe UK 100 index ended down 0.6% at 758.35. The Cboe 250 closed down 0.1% at 18,569.37, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.4% at 15,431.79.
In mainland Europe, the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended down 0.6%.
The CAC 40 in Paris, meanwhile, outperformed, adding 0.1%.
Markets in Paris got a boost from figures showing French President Emmanuel Macron won the first round of votes in France's presidential election.
Macron won 27.85% of votes in the first round, while far-right leader Marine Le Pen scored 23.15%, according to final results from the Interior Ministry on Monday.
The results will allow both to advance to a run-off, while far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon got 21.95%, knocking him out of the first round.
‘Macron's better than expected score in the first round has been greeted by a relief rally in French assets. This shouldn't lull investors into a false sense of security. Macron is the favourite to win, but the two weeks heading into the run-off will be characterised by higher volatility in our view, so long as polls put both candidates neck and neck and within the margin of error,’ analysts at Dutch bank ING commented.
The euro topped the $1.09 mark on Monday, before fading to $1.0889 at the European equities close, though still up from $1.0875 on Friday night, however.
The pound recovered to $1.3040, up from $1.3020.
Sterling had dipped below the $1.30 mark after figures showed the UK economy failed to live up to expectations in February, with growth almost slowing to a standstill.
GDP grew by 0.1% month-on-month in February, slowing from 0.8% growth in January, and coming in behind market consensus - according to FXStreet - for 0.3% growth.
The Office for National Statistics did note, however, that the UK economy is now 1.5% above its pre-coronavirus level in February 2020.
AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson commented: ‘It was the month the UK was supposed to start 'living with covid' but if February is an indication of what that life will look like, the UK economy is in trouble. There was growth, but barely. The scaling back of Covid testing programmes and with the booster boost long gone, the economy was left limping, further hampered by a car industry still plagued by chip shortages and spiralling costs.’
Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥125.52 at the London equities close Monday, up from JP¥124.33 on Friday.
In London, John Wood shares surged 13%, the best mid-cap performer. The provider of project, engineering and technical services said its underlying full-year results are to be in line with previous guidance.
It plans to publish its annual results on April 20 after a delay in finalising its reported results.
In addition, Jefferies raised the stock to 'hold' from 'underperform'.
Luxury carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda ended at the other end of the mid-caps, falling 6.4%. Goldman Sachs cut its price target for the stock to 1,089 pence from 1,972p. It rates Aston Martin at 'neutral'.
Ascential rose 5.8%. The London-based business-to-business media and events firm confirmed it is actively discussing ‘the merits’ of separating some of its assets.
‘As discussions are exploratory at this stage, they may or may not lead to the board making a decision to undertake a managed separation of these businesses in due course. The board is committed to open and transparent engagement with all of its stakeholders and will communicate further if and as appropriate,’ the company added.
This followed Sky News reporting on Saturday that Ascential was looking at demerging its digital operations and listing them separately in the US.
Elsewhere on the Main Market, Pod Point added 1.5% after the electric vehicle charging infrastructure firm said it has signed a deal with automotive firm BMW Group. The stock was up as high as 6.0% in afternoon dealings.
‘Under the terms of the contract, which will run for three years, Pod Point will become a BMW and MINI preferred supplier of domestic charge points, on a referral basis, to its UK customers at the time of their EV purchase,’ the company said.
Brent was quoted at $98.80 a barrel late Monday, down markedly from $101.33 a barrel Friday evening. Gold stood at $1,952.48 an ounce, up against $1,945.10 late Friday.
Oil prices were hurt by continued demand worries amid lockdowns in China. China has stuck to a policy of ‘zero Covid’, aiming to eliminate infections through rigid lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions.
Shanghai eased restrictions on some neighbourhoods Monday after mounting outcry over inflexible Covid-19 rules that have locked down 25 million people, caused food shortages and left thousands in quarantine.
Shares in Shell and BP tracked oil prices lower, falling 0.6% and 1.2%.
Airlines were on the up, however, over the prospect of cheaper jet fuel prices.
Wizz Air rose 6.1% and easyJet added 3.0%.
Stocks in New York were lower at the time of the closing bell in London. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.6%, the S&P 500 was 1.2% lower and the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.7%.
Twitter shares were 0.4% higher, recovering from being down 3.3% in early trade.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk will no longer be joining the board of the social media company.
The decision comes less than a week after announcing that Musk would be appointed. Musk was named to join the Twitter board after buying a major stake in the firm and becoming its largest shareholder.
Tuesday's economic calendar has inflation figures from Germany at 0700 BST and the US at 1330 BST. UK unemployment figures are released at 0700 BST.
The UK corporate calendar has interim results from fast fashion firm ASOS and a trading statement from easyJet.
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