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Stocks in London closed higher on Monday, as cabinet ministers rallied round UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer after the leader of Scottish Labour called for him to step down. The FTSE 100 index closed up 16.48 points, 0.2%, at 10,386.23. The FTSE 250 ended up 132.14 points, 0.6%, at 23,340.03, and the AIM all-share closed up 10.24 points, 1.3%, at 817.04. The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 1,036.71, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.8% at 20,675.61, and the Cboe small companies was up 0.4% at 18,647.52. The leader of Scottish Labour has said UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer should quit, in a blow to the prime minister’s fragile authority. Anas Sarwar used a press conference to call for Starmer to resign as the prime minister battles to remain in No 10 following the scandal surrounding Peter Mandelson’s appointment to Washington as British ambassador, despite his links to Jeffrey Epstein being known. Sarwar is the most senior Labour politician to call for Starmer to go, conscious of the task facing Scottish Labour in May’s Holyrood elections, where opinion polls indicate his party faces coming third behind the SNP and Reform. Cabinet ministers publicly backed Starmer, while Downing Street insisted the prime minister would not resign. A Downing Street spokesperson said: ‘Keir Starmer is one of only four Labour leaders ever to have won a general election. He has a clear five-year mandate from the British people to deliver change, and that is what he will do.’ Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was the first of the cabinet to post his support on social media, saying: ‘Keir Starmer won a massive mandate 18 months ago, for five years to deliver on Labour’s manifesto that we all stood on. We should let nothing distract us from our mission to change Britain and we support the prime minister in doing that.’ ‘UK assets are in focus, but for all the wrong reasons as calls for Keir Starmer to resign grow louder,’ StoneX’s Fawad Razaqzada commented. ‘So far, though, the GBP/USD has held its own rather well and the FTSE 100 has remained near record levels. Perhaps that’s only because of the ongoing risk rally across global markets, where stock indices are finding renewed support and the dollar coming under pressure. ‘When you look at some of the pound crosses, that’s where you see the relative weakness. Political uncertainty hanging over the UK markets make us bearish on the pound forecast in the near-term, putting FX pairs such as EUR/GBP and GBP/JPY in focus.’ The pound was quoted higher at $1.3668 at the London equities close on Monday, compared with $1.3612 on Friday. The euro stood higher at $1.1897, against $1.1814. Against the yen, the dollar was trading lower at JP¥156.04 compared to JP¥157.04. Miners led the FTSE 100 on Monday, supported by rising gold prices. Antofagasta led, up 6.6%, followed by Fresnillo, up 4.6%. Gold was quoted at $5,068.99 an ounce on Monday, higher against $4,946.87. NatWest led the laggers, down 6.0% despite launching a new £750 million share buyback. It also confirmed a £2.7 billion deal to buy wealth manager Evelyn Partners, in its first major acquisition since returning to private ownership. ‘While expanding in Wealth Management is strategically logical, we remain cautious on the deal economics, which rely heavily on synergy delivery to justify the price,’ Shore Capital analyst Gary Greenwood commented. Plus500 was the highest FTSE 250 stock, up 9.3%. The Haifa, Israel-based contracts-for-difference trading platform operator said it is starting 2026 with ‘significant’ momentum and now expects the full year ahead to exceed current market expectations, after reporting small increases in revenue and profit in 2025. It also announced $187.5 million in new returns to shareholders, composed of a $87.5 million dividend and a $100 million share buyback. Among smaller caps, Quantum Data Energy dropped 24%. The reserve power generation plants developer has raised £1.2 million to accelerate construction of a five-megawatt project as it advances towards its initial 300 megawatt production target. Chill Brands rose 22%. The London-based consumer packaged goods distributor said that demand for its Chill Connect platform continues to run ahead of supply, with product sales revenue averaging more than 55% month-on-month growth between October 2025 and January 2026, with combined monthly revenues from product sales and service fees now materially higher than in the prior 18 months. It added that the market opportunity in convenience retail continues to grow larger, and that the opportunity ahead is clear as it expands beyond vaping into categories such as sundries, beverages and confectionery. The UK financial regulator plans to publish all trading data for London-listed shares, the Financial Times reported. The Financial Conduct Authority wants to tackle a ‘drastic under-reporting’ of market liquidity, which has led some companies to move their listings to the US. ‘The truth is we have way more liquidity here than is often reported, and that is just silly,’ Simon Walls, interim director of markets at the FCA, told the FT in an interview. The FT said this would be a stopgap before the regulator’s plan for a single stream of trading data, which is due to come into effect next year. In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed up 0.6%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended up 1.2%. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Monday backed a push to favour European firms over foreign rivals in ‘strategic’ fields, ahead of a leaders’ meeting on boosting the bloc’s competitiveness. ‘Europe must be able both to defend its strategic interests and to actively support domestic value creation. A European preference is a necessary instrument that contributes to this objective,’ the European Commission chief wrote in a letter to the bloc’s leaders. Von der Leyen argued such a move would ‘help create lead markets in strategic sectors and support the scaling-up of European production capabilities’. Stocks in New York were mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down marginally, the S&P 500 index up 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.0%. US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Armenia on Monday, before a scheduled trip to Azerbaijan, as Washington seeks to consolidate a peace process between the neighbours. Vance is the most senior US official to visit Armenia, where he is also expected to advance a flagship project to improve road-and-rail infrastructure in the region. His visit to Armenia until recently a close Russia ally comes as Moscow’s influence has dwindled in the region since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. At a White House summit in August 2025, US President Donald Trump brokered an agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan that saw the two countries commit to renouncing claims on each other’s territory and refrain from using force. The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.21%, narrowing from 4.22%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.86%, narrowing from 4.87%. Brent oil was quoted at $68.85 a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Monday, up from $68.47 late on Friday. The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Antofagasta, up 237.00p at 3,818.00p, Fresnillo, up 171.19p at 3,865.19p, Metlen Energy, up 1.51p at 37.31p, Rolls-Royce, up 46.00p at 1,275.00p, and Endeavour Mining, up 153.00p at 4,327.00p. The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were NatWest, down 39.40p at 620.00p, British American Tobacco, down 153.00p at 4,456.00p, Barratt Redrow, down 10.60p at 375.40p, BT, down 5.20p at 201.40p, and British Land, down 9.72p at 399.68p. On Tuesday’s economic calendar, look out for the UK’s BRC retail sales monitor and US retail sales data. On Tuesday’s UK corporate calendar, multiple companies including AstraZeneca, BP and Coca-Cola HBC will report full year results. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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