The London Stock Exchange (Jonathan Brady/PA) (PA Archive)
Stocks in London closed in the red on Monday, with fresh gains in the oil price and a lack of new catalysts curbing enthusiasm.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 29.81 points, 0.3%, at 10,720.30. The FTSE 250 ended down 163.02 points, 0.7%, at 24,704.40, while the AIM All-Share closed down slightly at 800.75.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed down 0.7%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt fell 0.4%.
Stocks in New York were mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3%, the S&P 500 index was 0.1% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2%.
In the US, results from retailers Walmart and Home Depot headline the corporate calendar this week as the second quarter reporting season draws to a close.
Jemma Slingo, pensions and investment expert, Fidelity International, said investors would be looking for fallout from the Middle East conflict.
She said: “Are households still splashing out, or becoming more selective about what they buy as prices rise? Data from last week wasn’t particularly upbeat: oil prices edged higher, while US retail sales in July fell unexpectedly.”
In London, the focus will be on jobs and average earnings figures on Tuesday, with inflation data the day after.
The UK labour market has shown signs of stabilisation in recent months, with the unemployment rate moving lower and industry data suggesting an improving picture.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the jobless rate fell to 4.9% in the three months to June from 5.0% to May, having peaked at 5.2% at the end of 2025.
In addition, the monthly gauge of permanent job placements from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation trade body and accountants KPMG increased to 50 in July from 49.1, ending a 45-month downturn.
Analysts at RBC Capital Markets eye a further drop in the unemployment rate to 4.7% in the three months to the end of June.
The pound traded at 1.3557 US dollars on Monday, up from 1.3550 dollars at the equities close on Friday. Against the euro, sterling firmed to 1.1702 euro from 1.1698 euro.
The euro stood a touch higher at 1.1586 dollars against 1.1583 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was higher at 159.34 yen, compared to 159.12 yen.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury stretched to 4.71% on Monday from 4.69% on Friday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury widened to 5.29% from 5.27%.
In London, the higher gold price supported Endeavour Mining, Fresnillo and Hochschild Mining, up 2.0%, 1.7% and 3.2% respectively.
Gold traded at 4,423.12 dollars an ounce on Monday, up from 4,388.17 dollars on Friday.
Elsewhere, JD Sports fell 3.2% ahead of Thursday’s trading statement, while food retailers Tesco and Sainsbury were down 3.0% and 3.2% ahead of Worldpanel UK grocery market share data on Tuesday.
Housebuilders were another weak feature as figures from Rightmove showed UK house prices saw a much larger than usual fall in August.
Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey eased 1.7%, and Barratt Redrow fell 1.0% as the online property portal said the average asking price of a newly-listed property decreased 2.0% month-on-month in August, to £364,999. In July, prices had fallen by 1.0%.
“Prices usually fall in August, but this is a much larger August price drop than the ten-year average of 1.3%,” Rightmove noted. “The number of available homes for sale is at a 12-year high for this time of year.
“When combined with the traditionally quiet summer holiday period, this has led to lower price expectations from sellers who have decided to come to market at this time of year, despite the lower volume of active buyers.”
Average prices declined by 1.0% year-on-year in August, which Rightmove said is the largest annual fall since December, 2023.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Anthony Codling noted it was the worst August print since 2018.
“The combination of elevated mortgage rates, continued geopolitical uncertainty, and the October budget all weigh on the housing market, and contribute to Rightmove downgrading their official FY26 house price growth forecasts, from plus 2% to ‘flat to down 2%’,” Mr Codling added.
More positively, he pointed to some cause for optimism as Rightmove recorded a mini “Burnham Bounce” in demand after the Prime Minister’s appointment, a 5% increase in buyer demand, while there is optimism for a slight recovery in the autumn selling season after a “subdued, heatwave and World Cup-stricken summer”.
On the FTSE 250, Telecom Plus rose 6.0% after reiterating full-year guidance and saying that customer growth since the start of its financial year was running slightly ahead of target.
In the four months to July, annualised multiservice customer growth was running slightly ahead of its full-year target of 10%, and more than 2.5 times the multiservice customer growth rate of 3.9% achieved in financial 2026, which ended in March, the London-based provider of bundled household utility services said.
Brent oil for October delivery traded at 89.07 dollars a barrel on Monday afternoon, up from 87.94 dollars late on Friday.
David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, said the change reflected uncertainty over US-Iran relations and the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Endeavour Mining, up 84.0p at 4,195.0p, Anglo American, up 78.0p at 3,928.0p, GSK, up 34.0p at 1,851.5p, Fresnillo, up 50.0p at 2,930.0p and Polar Capital Technology Trust, up 11.0p at 686.0p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Howden Joinery, down 29.0p at 798.0p, Diageo, down 60.5p at 1,703.5p, J Sainsbury, down 11.1p at 332.6p, Experian, down 91.0p at 2,799.0p and Croda International, down 98.0p at 3,160.0p.
Tuesday’s global economic calendar has UK jobs and average earnings figures and Worldpanel UK grocery market share data plus US industrial production data.
Tuesday’s UK corporate calendar has half year results from Synectics and full year results from Cambridge Nutritional Sciences.
