London’s blue chips racked up a gain while European stocks got off to a mixed start as the week’s trading got underway after the German election.
The FTSE 100 added 17 points to sit at 8,677 early on, following Germany’s DAX higher after Friedrich Merz’s conservatives emerged victorious in the weekend’s election, giving defence stocks a boost.
In London, BAE Systems jumped over 2% but it was Centrica that headed the Footsie's early risers, gaining over 3%.
B&M European Value Retail SA dropped more than 5% to head the mid-cap fallers in the meantime, after warning on profit and announcing its chief executive’s departure.
Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals was among bright spots in London, gaining over 13% after administering the first-ever dose of its experimental CAR-T cell therapy for acute myeloid leukaemia
Technology Minerals was another, surging more than 23% following news 48.35%-owned Recyclus had secured a licence allowing black mass shipments to Glencore to begin.