Finance Stocks Lift FTSE 100 While Midcaps Fall

London equities moved higher on Monday as financial stocks supported the FTSE 100, while several mid-cap companies declined after company updates and analyst rating changes. The FTSE 100 rose 0.5% and the FTSE 250 gained 0.2% in early trading, according to asktraders.com.

European markets also advanced, with Germany’s DAX up 0.6%, France’s CAC 40 up 0.4% and the Stoxx 50 up 0.4%, according to asktraders.com. Brent crude traded above $100 a barrel as investors monitored commodity markets.

Financial companies were among the strongest FTSE 100 performers, with Lion Finance Group rising 2.10%, ConvaTec gaining 2.09%, HSBC increasing 2.08%, Standard Life adding 2.00% and Standard Chartered climbing 1.65%, according to asktraders.com.

Standard Chartered also published a routine buyback notice, while declines included Informa, which fell 3.08%, WPP, down 1.11%, Vodafone, lower by 0.97%, and BP, which dropped 0.92%, according to asktraders.com.

Recruiter Hays recorded the sharpest mid-cap decline after falling 10.82% following its first-quarter trading statement, according to asktraders.com. Pennon, the owner of South West Water, dropped 10.25% after two analyst downgrades.

RBC Capital Markets downgraded Pennon to sector perform from outperform and cut its target to 400p from 575p. The firm cited "a challenging outlook across AMP8 for returns/earnings" said RBC Capital Markets.

Deutsche Bank also lowered Pennon’s rating to hold from buy and reduced its price target to 380p from 550p, according to asktraders.com.

"the near-term buy case now looks increasingly difficult, for several reasons." said Deutsche Bank.

AEP Plantations declined 7.74% despite reporting stronger production figures. Its nine-month statement showed own fruit bunch production up 13.3% and crude palm oil production up 17.9%, according to asktraders.com.

"remains confident in delivering results in line with market expectations for the full year, 2026" said AEP Plantations.

Other gainers included GlobalData, which rose 5.06%, Amaroq, which increased 4.70%, and Helios Towers, which advanced 4.44%, according to asktraders.com.

Commodity markets showed limited movement as Brent crude fell 0.3% to $104.46, WTI declined 0.3% to $91.57 and gold slipped 0.3% to $4,179, according to asktraders.com.

Geopolitical developments remained a focus after reports of attacks involving Riyadh Airport and King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia. Iran security chief Mohsen Rezaei was cited by asktraders.com as saying US responses did not fully meet expectations.

"accepted some of our conditions while others remain unclear" said Mohsen Rezaei.

Rezaei also added that Iran viewed the response from the United States as insufficient, according to asktraders.com.

"we consider their response inadequate." said Mohsen Rezaei.

US President Donald Trump also said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an energy-related ceasefire arrangement, according to asktraders.com.

"energy ceasefire" said Donald Trump, US President.

Elsewhere, Metlen signed a collaboration agreement with Thales Alenia Space and Thales Hellas for Greece’s future defence telecommunications space programme. Ithaca Energy agreed to extend its $1.8 billion reserve-based lending facility to December 31, 2032, once effective, with improved pricing, according to asktraders.com.