It's busy on the artefact sale front with news that Lucara Diamonds (TSE:LUC) had sold a whopping rough diamond for an eye-watering US$63mln - the most expensive rough stone ever.
The Toronto-listed miner must have had stars in its eyes as "The Constellation" was bought by Dubai based trader Nemesis International DMCC.
It comes hot on heels of news last week that another stone - the tennis-ball sized Lesedi la Rona, which is around 3bn years old, also recovered from Lucara’s Karowe mine in Botswana, could fetch more than £50 million when it goes under the hammer at auctioneer Sotherby’s.
Speaking of the sale hammer, over in New York, Christie's first sale in a week of spring auctions had the title 'Bound to Fail' - a wry nod to a slowdown in the art market, but actually raked in US$78mln. The story was one of the most read on Monday.
Notably one of the pieces sold for US$17.2mln and was a kneeling figure of German dictator Adolf Hitler by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.
Entitled 'Him' from the back it appears to be a small child in prayer, but the face is that of the unmistakable Fuhrer.
The work had been expected to sell for US$15 million and the buyer remains anonymous.
As Footsie gained after last week's loses, the EU referendum debate reached new heights with PM David Cameron warning an exit could lead to war as peace in Europe may not be maintained. Brexiteers, however, accused him of clutching at straws.
Unease about the vote is percolating through in many areas and UK average house prices fell 0.8% in April, which meant prices in the three months to April were 9.2% higher than in the same three months of 2015, though down from the 10.1% rate a month ago.
It's worth noting though that the slow down also follows though a rush to beat new stamp duty tax rates for buy-to-let and second homes at the start of last month.
Another day and another share price rise for Strategic Minerals (LON:SML), which today topped the London leader board, up over 45% to 0.48p a pop.
Last week, the group completed planning for a maiden drilling programme at the Hanns Camp nickel/copper project, paving the way for the start of drilling, which remains on track for mid-late May.
The share has more than tripled in value since April 20 when it stood at 0.15p.
One of the most read London statements came from seabed energy specialist Atlantis Resources Ltd (LON:ARL), which confirmed it had completed the acquisition of Scottish tidal project assets from ScottishPower Renewables in exchange for a stake in its wider development portfolio. Shares in Atlantis were flat at 59p each.
Bakery chain shares Greggs PLC (LON:GRG) were wanted today despite it reporting lower lower sales since the start of the year than in 2015 amid softer trading in March.
Greggs said total sales in the first 18 weeks of 2016 rose 5.7% against 5.9% a year ago, but like-for-likes sales were up 3.7% versus 6% last time.
The group said it was affected by softer high street conditions in March, although trading recovered in recent weeks.