- FTSE 100 rises 10 points to 8430
- Gold hits new record high – analysts point to Iran, China, US rates
- Ryanair says rises in ticket prices slowing
4pm: Miner gains
As we ticktock towards the close, the FTSE 100 is trundling along slightly higher than the flatline, held back by its five largest companies all being in the red.
Miners, defence and aerospace stocks are key to what gains we've seen.
Precious metals miner Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES) is top of the leaderboard, despite the gold price dropping back, while copper miner Antofagasta and commodities group Glencore are both up around 1%.
Second is Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LSE:RR.), ahead of its annual shareholder meeting on Thursday, where analysts expect a "welcome boost" from an increase in engine flying hours to show boss Tufan Erganbilgic's turnaround is going to plan.
Ladbrokes owner Entain is up 3.6% despite US betting data showing its BetMGM joint venture saw lower gaming revenue.
Fallers were easyJet PLC down 2.9%, Ocado Group PLC down 2.7% and Burberry Group PLC down 2.3%.
Burberry shares fell to a new 52 week low that when you widen out the picture also appears to be around an eight year low, following its results last week that showed profits slumping 34%.
The FTSE 250 has also come back from its earlier levels but is still up over 100 points or 0.5%.
Top risers are Kainos Group PLC (LSE:KNOS), up 17.5%, WAG Payment Solutions PLC (LSE:WPS) up 9% and Carnival PLC up 5.8%.
3.50pm: Markets view from JPMorgan
"Beneath the surface, there are three interesting trends," say JP Morgan equity strategists, one that is being maintained and two showing a rotation.
The first is that "all the US earnings growth is still Mag-7 driven", ie by the Magnificent 7 stocks (Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla).
The past quarter was the fifth in a row where, if the Mag-7 contribution is taken out, the remaining 493 S&P 500 constituents have shown outright negative year-on-year EPS growth.
"The odds could be increasing that we might see some reversal."
Second point: "European earnings are starting to do better vs the US, and that was one of the reasons why we upgraded Eurozone vs the US last quarter.
"We continue to believe that the region will at least hold its own vs the US, irrespective of the direction of the overall equity market."
Third, "cyclical sector earnings are softening vs defensives. For S&P 500, median cyclical EPS growth is now below defensives, for the first time since Covid. This is one of the reasons why we argued in early April for a rotation into defensives, especially into the utilities and real estate sectors.
"From a top down perspective, we are particularly concerned about the earnings prospects of the autos sector," with the bank rating the car and truck industry 'underweight'.
3.42pm: UK to set up microchip institute
The government has announced £1 billion of funding to set up the UK Semiconductor Institute, an independent body designed to grow the sector by linking private sector efforts with universities and government support.
Earlier today, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said the new body will be a" single point of contact to promote the sector to investors and attract foreign investment in British research expertise".
The organization will equip chip researchers, facilitate market-ready products, and serve as a hub for technology businesses and international partners.
A year ago a national semiconductor strategy was launched, aiming to build on the UK's strengths in compound chips, chip design and research & development.
3.21pm: FTSE dips in and out of the red, gold off highs
The FTSE 100 dipped into the red a short while back but is crawling higher again, up 0.1% at 8431.
It's a more positive story for the FTSE 250, which is still up over 100 points or 0.5%, with the mid cap index still a long way off its all-time highs.
Looking at gold and silver, which are off earlier highs and back to where they finished last week, market analyst Fawad Razaqzada at City Index says this was profit-taking.
"Still, the white metal is up a good 35% so far in 2024, compared to 18% for gold.
"Silver’s breakout last week means the metal may have paved the way for even more gains after being held back by sturdy resistance below the $30 level," Razaqzada says.
He says his gold and silver forecast remains positive and he reckon "new records could be on the way for the former and fresh 2024 gains for the latter".
3.02pm: Are you a coffee badger?
As more companies attempt to clamp down on staff insisting on working from home, a new term has apparently entered the corporate lexicon: 'coffee badging'.
Many staff have started to nip into the office for a short while just to tick the box, research by hybrid working company Owl Labs suggests, visibly getting a coffee in front of a manager, before inconspicuously clocking off soon after.
One in three people in the UK on flexible work contracts admit to the practice, according to a piece by the Telegraph citing this research.
2.45pm: US stocks mixed at open
Across the Atlantic, the Dow Jones has retreated from its record high achieved at the close last week.
The Dow is down 79 points or 0.20%, with Johnson & Johnson down 1.4%, Home Depot and Honeywell International both down 1.1^ to lead the blue-chip fallers.
Meanwhile, the broader S&P 500 is up 0.19% and the Nasdaq Composite is up 0.52%, with NVIDIA ahead of its results midweek and fellow chip group AMD both up 2.3% as two of the big drivers of the gains, while the seven largest companies in the index are all in green.
A big faller in the tech-heavy exchange is China's Li Auto, after first-quarter vehicle sales missed forecasts as deliveries of its first pure electric car fell short of the company's targets.
It reported vehicle sales totalling 24.25 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) for the first three months of the year, up 32% but short of the 26.71 billion yuan analysts expected.
1.45pm: Looking forward to inflation numbers, some uncertainty remains
The FTSE 100 is almost down flat now, up just 4 points, though the FTSE is up 124 at 20,874.
There's some interesting comments today looking forward to the UK inflation numbers on Wednesday.
Economist James Smith at ING, in particular, who says the services inflation is the "make or break" number to determine a June rate cut for the BoE.
"The Bank of England is preparing for its first rate cut, and Wednesday’s services inflation data will determine whether that comes in June or August.
"We think services inflation could come in hotter than expected, and if we're right, that would favour another ‘on hold’ decision next month," Smith says.
Markets are pricing a 58% chance of a June cut happening at the time of writing.
At a headline level, the story should be a good one, with overall inflation, likely to fall to within a whisker of the Bank’s 2% target, writes Smith, mostly putting this down to the 12% fall in household electricity/gas bills at the start of April and a similar cut expected again in July's Ofgem next price cap move, based on wholesale natural gas prices.
"If we’re right, then that should be a recipe for several rate cuts this year. We expect at least three, which is slightly more than markets are pricing."
However, services inflation is a major uncertainty this week, Smith says.
"In the very short term, there’s still some uncertainty over services inflation. That’s ultimately what the BoE is most interested in, and it seems to have assumed even greater prominence in the monetary policy decision-making process given recent volatility in the wage figures."
The MPC expects services inflation to dip from 6.0% to 5.5% in April’s data due this week, with the market consensus expecting 5.4%, and ING expecting 5.6%.
"Slight deviations here or there are not likely to substantially move the needle for the Bank. And it's worth saying we do get another inflation release just ahead of June’s meeting, but we think there’s less uncertainty surrounding that set of data."
The bottom line, says Smith: "if the data comes in with expectations, a June rate cut would quickly become the base case. But given the committee is visibly divided, a bigger upside surprise to services inflation this week would move the dial back towards August for the first rate cut."
1.11pm: BT delay, Virgin Trains comeback, auditors slammed
A few stories from the website this morning that I think are worth sharing.
BT this morning said it had delayed plans to force all customers to switch to broadband due to concerns about vulnerable people who depend on telecare or landlines for emergency alarms.
The telecom giant has abandoned an industry-agreed timeline of completing the national switchover by the end of next year, setting a new deadline of the end of January 2027.
Lobby groups had warned that, unlike copper-based landlines with power, digital-based telecare services stop working if there is a power cut or the internet goes down.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has applied to run trains on England’s west coast route in direct competition with Avanti.
Virgin Trains confirmed the 'open access' licence application over the weekend to operate in tandem with Avanti West Coast, which it lost out to in 2019.
And as for auditors, the FT has a story about how auditors failed to ring alarm bells before 75% of the biggest company collapses in the recent years.
Research was carried out by Sheffield University following several high-profile failures at the likes of BHS, Carillion and Thomas Cook.
The university’s Audit Reform Lab pointed to a lack of warnings from big four accountants, noting Ernst & Young, for example, gave going-concern warnings for just one in five firms it had audited in the year before they failed between 2010 and 2022.
PwC's, Deloitte's and KPMG's audit teams were not much better, the research found.
12.59pm: Wall Street to open higher
US stocks are set to join most European markets and open the week higher, though any good news from across the pond is not yet filtering over to the FTSE 100.
Gains will be led by the tech-powered Nasdaq, according to the futures market, which is pointing to the Nasdaq 100 opening 0.3% higher, ahead of a 0.2% gain for S&P 500 futures.
Dow Jones futures, after last week saw the index break through the 40,000 barrier for the first time right at the close, are roughly flat so far.
Last week, in addition to the Dow 40k, the S&P took back 5300, while Nasdaq 17k "remains elusive" says Kenny Polcari at Kace Capital Advisors.
The tech index, he says, "needs to gain 1.8% to get us to that number – with many betting this will be the week – why? Think NVDA! [Earnings] are due out on Wednesday after the bell….and the sense is that they are going to crush it again…that they can’t make their chips fast enough and AI is the story."
12.39pm: Crytpo trend
Bitcoin traders had nothing to write home about over the weekend trading session but things are livelier this morning.
The BTC/USD pair recouped all of yesterday’s losses, up 9.2% on a week ago at $66,274.
The cryptocurrency markets are showing signs of consolidation, says our daily crypto report, with a lack of risk appetite for more volatile, less liquid altcoins.
12.10am: Investing in the UK campaign
Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK's largest DIY investment platform has launched a campaign called “Get Investing in the UK” to encourage customers to invest in the UK.
The fund supermarket, which, like its rivals, offers investors thousands of US and international shares to buy and sell, as well as upping analyst coverage over a variety of US and European shares in recent years, says the campaign will "highlight both the benefits of investing as well as our best ideas on the long-term investment opportunities we see in the UK".
Emma Wall, head of investment analysis and research at the Bristol-based group, said: "Now is the time to get investing in the UK. It is home to lots of world-class companies, selling their goods and services across the globe, that aren’t just reliant on the strength of the UK economy to thrive.
"There’s also a diverse array of innovative smaller businesses, some of which are pioneers of emerging industries with the potential to blossom into the giants of tomorrow."
She also notes London's reputation as a happy hunting ground for income investors, with the UK Dividend Monitor from Computershare predicting nearly £94.5 billion will be paid out in dividends this year, including specials, a 4.3% increase on 2023, plus share buybacks that were worth almost twice as much as dividends last year.
"It’s a key year for the UK with a number of events which brings focus on investing in the UK, not least a General Election and various rumoured IPOs. Interest rate cuts are on the near horizon, which are positive for equities and negative for savers, making the stock market more attractive on a longer-term view," said Wall.
Around 83% of shares held by HL’s clients are in UK listings.
Wall notes that the UK is trading at a 43.5% discount to the US based on 12-month forward earnings, currently near the biggest discount to the US in over 20 years, while the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 are trading at significant discount to the Eurostoxx 50 too, which is attracting bids for giants like Anglo American or mid-sized names like Keywords Studios today.
12.05pm: Asda not focused on market share growth
Ahead of fresh grocery industry data due tomorrow from Kantar, analysts at Shore Capital have put out a note saying they believe Asda will continue prioritising debt reduction over sales and market share growth.
Sales at the UK's third-largest supermarket lifted 1.4% on a like-for-like basis during the first quarter of 2024, a figure which is “relatively poor”, according to the broker.
However, Asda's owners are not believed to be focused on sales league tables and market share but instead are targeting the “generation of profitable transactions”.
To boost this area, Asda is required to grow its margins and cash flow, something analysts believe is going well.
11.56am: Brokers in talks
WH Ireland Group PLC (AIM:WHI) says it is in deal talks with a fellow broker Zeus Capital.
Noting recent press speculation, the City firm confirmed that it is in discussions with Zeus "with regards to the possible sale of its capital markets division".
"These discussions are at an advanced stage but there can be no certainty that any transaction will occur."
Elsewhere in small caps world, CT Automotive (AIM:CTA) shares have jumped 20% this morning as the components group swung into profit following a bounce back in its markets after a major disruption during the pandemic.
Revenues rose 15% to US$143 million, driven by production revenue up by 13% and US$10.9m of tooling projects.
Bigblu (AIM:BBB) fell almost 12% after announcing the sale of its Norwegian operations and the departure of chief executive Andrew Walwyn.
Its business and consumer broadband provider Brdy is to be sold for just £1 to an entity led by the firm’s Norwegian management and former boss Walwyn, Bidblu said.
11.30am: Comments from Ryanair's O'Leary
In his chat with analysts and the media, Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary said a "recessionary feel around Europe" was a possible reason for the softer growth in flight prices.
This morning's results again flagged that the price rises seen last year were easing off, which followed his update from two weeks ago, where O'Leary said summer fares were not likely to see the 5% to 10% rise he had initially expected last month.
"It is a bit surprising that pricing hasn't been stronger and we're not quite sure whether that's just consumer sentiment or recessionary feel around Europe but we still see peak travel demand certainly through July and August being strong," O'Leary said.
"And if we have to discount or cut fares to fill to 94% load factor in April, May and June then so be it."
Financial chief Neil Sorahan also told Reuters the airline had to reduce fares in particular for mid-week flights in recent weeks to boost demand.
10.49am: Commodities boosting London stocks
Mining stocks are up as gold and copper prices hit fresh record highs, with other metals like silver also boosted.
The boost for copper was partly down to new measures designed to prop up China’s ailing property sector, says market analyst Danni Hewson at AJ Bell.
Neil Wilson at Markets.com has reasons agogo for gold's fresh high and silver jumping to its highest in 11 years: expectations the US Fed will cut rates soon, geopolitical tensions and China buying.
"There is a clear geopolitical premium since October 7th and the death of the Iranian president may have driven some news-flow-based trade – bound to be some of that involved overnight," he says.
"More importantly perhaps China has been a big buyer as the PBOC cuts Treasury holdings in favour of gold."
As for silver, as well as its strange link to meme stocks from 2021, he says it’s also because of the move in gold and closing the gap in the gold-silver ratio.
Wilson also noted the recovery of 'populist' Slovak leader Robert Fico after an attempt on his life, with EU elections just a few weeks away, while right-wing populist Geert Wilders has formed a government in Holland.
"Even if he’s not going to the PM, it’s a problem for the EU. Fragmentation is the order of the day," says Wilson, adding that the death of Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi also comes just before new elections.
"Coming at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions it’s not one to ignore totally. The question is whether Tehran starts to talk about potential Israeli or US involvement in the deaths – nothing right now on that front. Raisi was a hardliner; a new leader could take a different position? I don't think it’s going to make a lot of difference in terms of foreign policy from what I understand of how decisions are taken in Tehran and the general lay of the land."
10.19am: BoE deputy governor talks about rate cuts
Ben Broadbent, a member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) has made some comments about interest rates in a speech, which has just been published.
Broadbent, who steps down next month, only said "it’s possible" that the base rate "could be cut some time over the summer".
Here is the full quote, where he was following on from comments about the persistence of inflation.
"There is a range of views across the committee on this point. In view of the rarity of events like this over the past, and the associated uncertainty about the future, that’s entirely understandable. Whatever the priors of its individual members the MPC will continue to learn from the incoming data and, if things continue to evolve with its forecasts – forecasts that suggest policy will have to become less restrictive at some point – then it’s possible bank rate could be cut some time over the summer."
10.07am: FTSE gains pared, mid-caps keep rising
Those early gains for the FTSE 100 have tailed off, while those for the FTSE 250 are increasing. In Europe, Germany's Dax and France's CAC are in green, while Spain's IBEX and Italy's FTSE MIB are in red.
London's blue-chip index is up 16 points or 0.2% at just under 8437, while the mid-cap one is now up 115 points or 0.55% at 20,865.
Biggest risers on the Footsie are Weir, up 3.4%, Fresnillio up 3%, Ashtead up 2.15% and Centrica up 2%.
Fallers are Sage Group, down 1.6%, Scottish Mortgage down 1.1%, Prudential down 1% and easyJet down 0.9%.
For the 250, Kainos is top of the tree, up over 13%, followed by Baltic Classifieds, WAG Payment and Auction Technology, all up over 3%.
9.53am: Royal Mail story
Another story that emerged over the weekend was that Royal Mail's letter delivery obligations could be slashed under a prospective takeover by Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group.
According to The Sunday Times, the Czech billionaire is pushing to reduce requirements for second-class post to just three days a week.
There would be big savings for the International Distributions Services PLC (LSE:IDS) from the current six-day service, but it does not seem likely that regulator Ofcom would allow it.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said the offer will be subject to national security checks.
9.21am: Gold, oil and shares are up
Some thoughts on the FTSE and gold from Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, after the yellow metal hit a new high.
"The defensive nature of the FTSE 100 has come to the fore, with the index rising in early trade amid fresh uncertainty in the Middle East," she says.
"Oil and gold have been rising in tandem, following the confirmation of the death of Iran’s president, and the health of King Salman of Saudi Arabia, being the subject of speculation.
"Mining stocks and energy giants are on the front foot in early trade, while shares in defence contractors have also edged up."
On gold, Streeter adds: "Demand for the safe-haven asset has surged as investors have been digesting news of the death of Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi who is believed to have been killed with others including foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash.
"Demand for the metal has also likely to have been pushed up by renewed speculation that the Federal Reserve will be minded to cut interest rates a couple of times this year.
"Recent data is indicating inflation is staying on the right downwards trajectory, and there are other signs of demand being drawn out of the economy, such as retail sales coming in softer."
The dollar has edged a little lower, which makes gold slightly cheaper for overseas buyers, and a lower rate environment also reduces the profitability of investing in US government bonds, increasing the allure of gold as the opportunity cost of holding it falls.
A big factor in recent months has been China's bulk buying of gold as well.
The Iran helicopter crash and concerns about the health of King Salman of Saudi Arabia are also supporting oil prices, with Brent crude up 0.3% at $84.22.
King Salman's son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has postponed a visit to Japan due to his 89-year-old father’s illness, reported to be a lung condition.
But oil traders have an eye on the next OPEC meeting due to begin on 1 June, where members will decide on future production quotas.
"If an increase isn’t agreed, it could add fresh strength to oil prices," says Streeter.
8.51am: Another London IPO on the way?
After the confirmation last week from Raspberry Pi of its intention to list in London, there's more potential good news for the Square Mile over the weekend, with reports that sports supplement maker Applied Nutrition is closing in on a £500 million float.
Founder Tom Ryder is said to have met with nearly 30 fund managers in London to discuss the possibility of an IPO in the fourth quarter of this year.
Ryder's backers include former JD Sports boss Peter Cowgill and AJ Bell founder Andy Bell, who also sits on the board as chairman.
8.44am: Gold prices rise
The price of gold has risen to a new record high this morning, coming within a whisper of $2,500.
Some traders and analysts are linking it to the death of Iran's president in a helicopter crash.
This followed another volatile period last week.
Analysts at Stifel said prices were rising today "on the back of significantly weaker retail sales data from China" and a big move last week largely the result of the soft US inflation number which "once again fueling up the hopes of earlier-than-anticipated Fed rate cuts".
"Once rate cuts start to happen, it will drive another leg up for the gold price, with cuts likely to happen more rapidly than currently expected."
Looking at other parts of the market, base metals moved higher, with copper ending last week up 3.5%, "largely on the back of a short squeeze in the July contract on the COMEX exchange".
"This squeeze is compelling traders with short positions to close them because of concerns about meeting delivery obligations. According to sources, the surge was due to traders participating in a reverse-arbitrage trade where COMEX copper is shorted while Shanghai copper is longed."
8.32am: Ryanair's buyback
Full-year results from Ryanair (LSE:RYA) were in line with previous guidance, with the airline also announcing a €700 million share buyback, set to commence later this week.
This is in addition to the introduction of a dividend last year, a move that was not anticipated by analysts.
Broker Peel Hunt says new forward guidance for 2025 results, anticipating 198-200 million passengers is "slightly below our estimate" due to delays in Boeing aircraft deliveries.
Ryanair anticipates unit costs to rise modestly as higher ex-fuel costs are largely offset by fuel hedge savings and increasing interest income.
With EU short-haul capacity constrained and summer 2024 demand positive, the company projects summer 2024 fares to be flat to modestly ahead of summer 2023.
Also, Olly Anibaba, analyst at Third Bridge, says Ryanair slightly underperformed its 92-93% load factor target for the winter and said industry experts "believe airlines are consciously not prioritising load factor to keep fares slightly higher".
"The Boeing delivery delays will be a huge problem for Ryanair," he adds.
Ryanair shares are down 1.3% in Europe, while in London, easyJet shares are down 1% and Wizz Air's are up 1.3%.
8.19am: Early risers
Keywords Studios is unsurprisingly one of the big risers this morning, up 63%, after confirming it is in talks with a private equity suitor.
Elsewhere, FTSE 250-listed Kainos Group PLC (LSE:KNOS) is up almost 9% after reporting full-year results.
The IT services provider's adjusted PBT is in line with its previous statement, revenue is a bit lighter but bookings have seen an upturn, leaving a healthy backlog, which is running at over five-year highs.
Analysts at Stifel note "very healthy" bookings post period and say "overall, we think this is a decent set of results" at first glance.
The FTSE 100 is now up 20 points at just over 8440, while the 250 is up 81 points at almost 20,831.
8.08am: FTSE 100 opens higher
The FTSE 100 has, as predicted, opened higher. In initial trades, the index has climbed 18 points or 0.2% to 8438.
Mid-caps are also higher, with the FTSE 250 index up 47 points or 0.3% higher to 20,797.
We've also had some housing market data from Rightmove, which shows UK house prices reached record highs, with the average property increasing by around £2,800 in the last month.
Homes in May were priced at an average of £375,000, representing a 0.8% uptick compared to April.
May is historically a strong period for housing prices, with the month seeing 12 record highs over the last 22 years.
“Price growth is still led by the largest-homes, top-of-the-ladder sector, with prices in this sector up by an average of 1.3 per cent compared with last year,” Rightmove said.
7.59am: What to look for this week
Here's Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank with his summary of where the markets are at, and what to look out for this week.
"It will be a quieter week ahead for global macro with perhaps the most interesting event of the week being Nvidia's earnings on Wednesday.
"The company always reports a couple of weeks after the main stretch of US earnings season is over so it will act as a potent "digestif" to Q1 reporting. Remember this time last year the mainstream AI frenzy began around the time of Nvidia's results where the company climbed over 20% on results day and has now tripled in value over 12 months."
Staying in the US, Reid says the Fed meeting minutes on Wednesday are likely to be one of the main economic events, though "it’s tough to see how it will contain much new material especially as since the meeting we have seen CPI and PPI".
The global flash PMIs on Thursday will be a highlight alongside UK inflation on Wednesday and retail sales and consumer confidence on Friday.
"Our UK economist previews the inflation data here and expects the headline to drop to around 2.2% year-on-year, 18 months after peaking at 11.1%.
"He sees core CPI at 3.6% and services at 5.4%, both also down. He sees risks to the headline projection as skewed to the downside."
7.55am: Keywords talks and a done deal
More info on the Keywords Studios takeover offer.
The Dublin-based video games services provider said private equity firm EQT, which has around £200 billion under management, has until the close of business on June 15 to table a formal offer, after making four unsolicited offers before coming to a potential agreement.
If a firm offer is made, Keywords investors would receive £22.50 a share - a 70% premium to Friday's closing price - plus they'd be entitled to the final dividend payment.
Since hitting a high of more than £33 in September 2021, the shares have almost halved in value amid worries that AI may be used to carry many of the games industry tasks outsourced to the company by customers such as Activision Blizzard and Tencent.
Elsewhere, Victorian Plumbing (AIM:VIC) has also announced its acquisition of rival, similarly named bathroom retailer Victoria Plum.
It said the deal was sealed on Friday for £22.5 million on a cash free, debt free basis.
CEO Mark Radcliffe said Victoria Plum is "a well-established brand with a solid base of customers, suppliers and product ranges" but what he didn't say was it also gets rid of an annoyingly named competitor.
Victoria Plum, which recently collapsed into administration, also had been a former legal opponent, with the pair meeting in court over a trademark dispute in 2016.
7.50am: British Land
Giant property developer British Land (LSE:BLND) has agreed to sell half of Sheffield’s Meadowhall shopping centre for £360 million to Norway's state-run Norges Bank.
This leaves 93% of British Land’s portfolio on its “preferred” subsectors of retail parks, office campuses and London urban logistics.
The sale price is 3% above book value, the FTSE 100-listed group said.
7.40am: Summing up the market
"The start of the week has seen further gains in global share prices, Asian equities are higher, and UK and US stock index futures are also pointing to positive opens later today," says market analyst Kathleen Brooks at XTB.
"At the same time as stocks are rallying, the gold price also reached another record high on Monday morning."
The gold price is higher by more than $33 today and is currently trading at $2448 per ounce.
Last week was an eventful one for investors, Brooks adds, with the Dow Jones and FTSE reaching new record highs.
The Dow's record on Friday is "a major bullish signal", she says, even though gains for global stocks were fairly modest on Friday, and European stocks closed lower, while the Vix index, Wall Street’s 'fear gauge', fell to its lowest level since 2019.
"While this decline in the Vix is helping to aid positive risk sentiment, history tells us that the Vix does not stay low forever. As we start a new week, some key economic data releases, including FOMC meeting minutes and UK and Japanese inflation data, may determine the timing of shifts in major central banks’ policy stances, which could have a big impact on financial markets.
"Added to this, we will also be watching closely for any sign that geopolitical tensions will rise after Iran’s President died in a helicopter crash."
7.17am: FTSE 100 tipped to start higher
The FTSE 100 is anticipated to begin the week on a bright note, ahead of another packed few days of company results. Today is not one of those days, however.
Spread-betters have called the blue-chip index 11 points higher after it finished a record-breaking past week with two down-days that ended at 8,420.26.
UK consumer price inflation numbers are also due later in the week, with a big drop expected to take the figure close to the Bank of England’s 2% target.
This is why Monday starts with the pound at a six-week high, which tends to put the brakes on the index, having risen 2.15% against the dollar over the past month.
Oil prices are just off two-month lows, affecting two of its biggest companies, though Brent crude is up 0.4% to $84.32 this morning.
The morning also starts with confirmation from Keywords Studios PLC (AIM:KWS, OTC:KYYWF) that it is in advanced talks about being taken private for a price 73% above where it finished last week.
Keywords says EQT Group has made four previous unsolicited proposals in recent months but it “would be minded to recommend” the latest, a possible cash offer of 2,550p per share, plus the recently declared 2023 final dividend of 1.76p, to shareholders should a firm offer be made.