London's FTSE 100 opened quietly on what is traditionally the wind-down week ahead of the Christmas and New Year break, with the blue-chip index down 2 at 8,298.
Royal Mail is the main headline with the £3.6 billion takeover offer for parent company International Distribution from Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky getting approval from the government. UK taxpayers will retain a "golden share" that will require the government to approve major changes while staff get 10% of any dividends paid out to Kretinsky.
Elsewhere, house asking prices have dropped 1.7% in December according to online estate agent Rightmove though prices are still higher than a year ago.
Ladbroke owner Entain has been accused of “systemic failures” in its approach to regulatory and anti-money laundering compliance by the authorities in Australia.
Australia’s financial regulator meanwhile has filed a lawsuit against HSBC for allegedly failing to protect customers from scams.
Shares in Entain dropped 4% while HSBC was unchanged.