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The FTSE 100 opened 10 points lower at 10,486.74 amid fresh escalation in the Middle East that sent oil prices sharply higher, as energy-heavy blue chips offset broader risk-off sentiment. Meanwhile, Brent crude futures rose 3.72% to $78.90 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) advanced 3.74% to $74.08 a barrel.
Sterling was quoted at $1.3380 early Monday, lower than $1.3419 at the London equities close on Friday. Against the euro, sterling fell to €1.1730 from €1.1737 a day prior.
On the upside, Persimmon rose 3.52% to £1,073.50, while Vodafone Group advanced 3.13% to £113.55. Shell gained 1.38% to £3,080.50, and BP advanced 2.59% to £495.15. Computacenter added 1.93% to £4,540, while BT Group climbed 1.55% to £193.
On the downside, AstraZeneca declined 1.26% to £12,672, while Spirax Group slipped 1.53% to £6,455. Endeavour Mining fell 1.80% to £3,610, and Diploma edged lower by 0.96% to £6,735. Halma dropped 1.70% to £3,578, while Antofagasta eased 1.43% to £3,724.
ME group has expanded into user-operated dog washing machines in a bid to recover from the Iran war hit to revenues.
The firm installed 200 of these machines across the UK, France and the Republic of Ireland, noting that they “are proving popular with customers”.
Last month, the firm revealed that its revenue had slipped by as much as 17% in April. Revenue slipped 1% to £152 million on a constant currency basis in the six months to the end of April, as pre-tax profit fell 6% to £32 million.
Recruiter PageGroup’s profit fell 5.4% in the second quarter to £21.8 million, an improvement from the 11.4% decline in the three months prior.
Temporary recruitment was up 1%, PageGroup said, outperforming permanent recruitment, which was down 8%.
Across the group, profit remained flat at £197.6 million, but it said around half of the operating markets across the globe were seeing growth, with southern Europe swinging back into positive momentum.
Plus500 has backed its full-year outlook after reporting its highest half-year revenue in three years. Revenue stood at $462.9 million, up 12% compared to the previous year, while customer income increased 24% to a five-year record of $460.8 million.
Underlying profits (EBITDA) edged up 1% to $187.5 million as the group increased spending on customer acquisition and investment in its US business, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 41%, down from 45% a year ago.
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In US, futures point to a 1.3% fall for the tech-heavy Nasdaq index, while the Dow Jones and S&P 500 are seen dropping 0.35% and 0.55%.
In Asia on Monday; Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 1.92% to 67,242.73, while China’s Shanghai Composite fell 2.06%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.064%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.03%. In India, Nifty 50 and Sensex advanced by 0.14% and 0.11%, respectively.
