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The FTSE 100 was marginally down at midday on Monday, as the shutdown of the US government continued and France was hit by a fresh wave of political instability as its new prime minister resigned. ‘The FTSE 100 briefly touched new highs on Monday but soon became sluggish as investors continue to weigh the risks posed by shutdown in Washington,’ said AJ Bell analyst Dan Coatsworth. The FTSE 100 index was down 3.16 points at 9,488.09. The FTSE 250 was down 107.90 points, 0.5%, at 22,089.72, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.04 points, 0.1%, at 797.56. The Cboe UK 100 was up slightly at 948.78, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.6% at 19,325.21, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.2% at 17,951.74. On the FTSE 100, Hiscox rose 0.8%. The Bermuda-based insurance provider has completed the first tranche of its share buyback programme, spending $137.5 million to repurchase 8.2 million shares between February 27 and this past Friday. The second $137.5 million tranche of the $275 million programme begins on Monday and will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2026, Hiscox said. Shares in AstraZeneca rose 1.0%. The pharmaceutical company has signed a $555 million deal with San Francisco-based Algen Biotechnologies to develop gene-editing therapies using artificial intelligence, the Financial Times reported. The company will gain exclusive rights to develop and commercialise treatments from Algen’s Crispr-based gene-editing platform. Algen, a spinout from Jennifer Doudna’s Berkeley lab, will receive milestone payments of up to $555 million. Doudna, who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2020, serves as an adviser to Algen. Beeks Financial Cloud fell 9.2%. The Glasgow-based cloud computing and connectivity provider for financial markets said pretax profit nearly doubled on-year to £2.8 million in the year that ended June 30. Revenue rose 26% to £35.9 million. The company remains ‘confident’ in achieving financial 2026 results in line with its expectations, though it did not on Monday provide any specific full-year forecast. Dialight rose 3.7%. The London-based industrial light-emitting diode lighting company said it expects to significantly exceed market expectations for adjusted operating profit in the current financial year, despite noting ongoing soft demand trends and operating conditions. Sales were down marginally on-year, and Dialight noted tariff uncertainty as it remains cautious on the sales outlook for financial 2026. The headline S&P Global UK construction purchasing managers’ index rose to 46.2 points in September from 45.5 in August, and beat the FXStreet-cited consensus of 46.1. It was the slowest pace of contraction in three months, S&P Global noted. There was a slower reduction in new work but construction companies were still cautious about the outlook, with business optimism barely changed from August’s 32-month low. Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: ‘Business activity expectations for the year ahead were among the lowest since the end of 2022...many survey respondents reported caution among clients ahead of the autumn budget and a general reluctance to commit to major capital expenditure projects against a subdued domestic economic backdrop.’ Also in the UK, new car registrations climbed sharply in September, boosted by record sales of electric vehicles and solid fleet demand, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders. New car sales rose 14% year-on-year to 312,891 units from 275,239 units a year prior, marking the strongest September performance since 2020. Fleet sales led the increase, up 17% to 174,336 vehicles from 149,095, while private registrations rose 8.9% to 131,003 from 120,272. Battery electric vehicles surged 30% to 72,779 units, the highest monthly total on record, accounting for 23% of all registrations. In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 1.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was marginally higher. France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Monday accepted Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s resignation just hours after unveiling his cabinet, the presidency said, plunging the European nation further into political deadlock. Macron named Lecornu, a former defence minister, to the post last month. But the largely unchanged cabinet he unveiled late on Sunday to work with Lecornu sparked fierce criticism across the political spectrum. France’s public debt has reached a record high, official data showed last week. France’s debt-to-GDP ratio is now the EU’s third-highest after Greece and Italy, and is close to twice the 60% permitted under EU rules. Elsewhere, retail trade in the euro area rose slightly in August, while remaining stable across the broader EU, data from Eurostat showed. The seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade increased by 0.1% month-on-month in the euro area and was unchanged in the EU. In July, volumes had fallen by 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively. On an annual basis, retail trade grew by 1.0% in the euro area and 1.1% in the EU, compared with August 2024. The euro stood lower at $1.1662, at midday on Monday in London, against $1.1741. The pound was quoted lower at $1.3435, compared to $1.3469 at the equities close on Friday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at JP¥150.36 compared to JP¥147.43. Stocks in New York were called higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called up 0.2%, the S&P 500 index up 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.6%. The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.16%, widening from 4.11%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.77%, widening from 4.69%. ‘Futures prices pointed to modest gains in the US when Wall Street opens for trading later, despite the political gridlock in the nation’s capital,’ Coatsworth commented. ‘For now, the markets have largely shrugged off the shutdown but there is a sense that everyone, including the US Federal Reserve, is flying blind given the impact on key data releases, including Friday’s delayed jobs report.’ Brent oil was quoted higher at $65.52 a barrel at midday in London on Monday from $64.61 late Friday. Gold was quoted higher at $3,943.91 an ounce against $3,885.67. Still to come on Monday’s economic calendar are comments from UK Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, which are scheduled for 1830 BST. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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