London’s blue-chip stocks opened higher again on Monday, continuing the positive momentum from Friday and recovering close to all the losses suffered last week.
In a much steadier Monday for markets, with Asian markets ticking higher overnight, the FTSE 100 edged upwards, helped by strong gains in telecoms giant BT.
BT announced its top shareholder Altice UK would be selling a 24.5% stake to India’s Bharti Global for an undisclosed fee. Altice’s stake is worth around £3.2 billion according to BT’s closing price on Friday.
In wider industry news, UK insurance claims between April and June hit their highest level since records began due to poor weather. Some £1.4 billion was paid out to homeowners over the period, up 5% against the previous three months, marking the highest quarterly figure since records began in 2017.
Turning to commodities, oil prices continued to charge upwards, as heightened tensions in the Middle East looked to stick on traders’ minds. Brent crude gained 1.3% to sit at US$80.05 a barrel on Monday morning, while West Texas Intermediate climbed 0.7% to US$77.29.