London's FTSE 100 bounced back from yesterday’s heavy falls despite Chinese stock markets having their worst day for years on the lack of news on stimulus measures for its labouring economy.
The Footsie was up 29 points at 8,220 early on, led by paper group Mondi on the €630 million acquisition of peer Schumacher’s western European division.
In another big deal, mining titan Rio Tinto has agreed terms to acquire US-listed Arcadium Lithium in an all-cash deal worth £5.1 billion in total.
Elsewhere, pub chain Marston’s reported stronger sales than its rivals in the past quarter. Like-for-like sales growth was 4.8%, which it said was an outperformance of the broader pub market.
Finally, UK government borrowing costs moved higher again after chancellor Rachel Reeves alluded to plans to borrow more to fund Treasury spending. It’s bad news for mortgage borrowers with Coventry Building Society raising its rates this morning in a major shift from the recent downward trend.