Early market roundup: FTSE 100 higher as NatWest rises; Rio Tinto down

Stock prices in London opened higher on Monday as NatWest shares rose after it started a share buyback programme; meanwhile Iran’s foreign minister arrives in Geneva ahead of a second round of talks with the US.

According to Tehran, ‘indirect’ Iran–US nuclear talks mediated by Oman will be held on Tuesday, although Washington has previously pushed for other topics to be discussed, including Iran’s ballistic missiles and support for regional proxies.

The FTSE 100 index was up 18.70 points, 0.2%, at 10,465.05 early on Monday. The FTSE 250 was up 21.48 points, 0.1%, at 23,448.75, and the AIM all-share was up 1.62 points, 0.2%, at 813.47.

The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 1,042.10, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 20,777.25, and the Cboe small companies was up marginally at 18,618.72.

NatWest led the FTSE 100, up 3.7% after announcing the start of its up to £750 million share buyback programme.

Rio Tinto meanwhile was down 1.9%, after activity at the Simandou iron ore project’s mine site in Guinea was suspended due to the death of a worker.

Hunting was the third-highest FTSE 250 stock, up 3.5% after Buccaneer Energy announced pilot test results at its Pine Mills field in East Texas, using Hunting’s oil recovery solution.

Hunting said that production within the oil wells reported a 100% uplift, and in one well reduced the water cut to zero. Buccaneer intends to roll out the technology across other wells within its portfolio.

Helium One led on AIM, surging 24%.

The Tanzania-focused exploration company announced the completion of ESP testing at ITW-1 at the southern Rukwa Helium Project. It said over the equivalent of 250,000 barrels of water was produced over the 20-day test period, with flow rates increasing sixfold to up to an equivalent of 16,400 barrels per day.

In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.3%.

The pound was quoted higher at $1.3643 early on Monday in London, compared to $1.3626 at the equities close on Friday. The euro stood at $1.1858, down against $1.1868. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at JP¥153.42 compared to JP¥152.88.

In Asia on Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 0.2%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.2%.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong closed up 0.6% at noon on Monday for Spring Festival, and will remain closed until Friday for Lunar New Year.

Markets in Mainland China are closed this week for Lunar New Year celebrations.

Elsewhere in Asia, India is scrambling to defend a new trade deal with the US, AFP reports, as countries navigate the fallout from US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

The deal announced this month has rattled India’s powerful farmers’ unions, who argue that cheap US imports would throttle local producers in a country where agriculture employs more than 700 million people.

The most contentious pledge is India’s stated intention to buy $500 billion worth of US goods over five years. India’s annual imports from the US last fiscal year were around $45 billion.

In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.1%, the S&P 500 up 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.2%.

US markets are closed on Monday, as the country marks ’Washington’s Birthday’.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.05%, narrowing from 4.06%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted unchanged at 4.70%.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in the Hungarian capital on Monday for meetings with Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his government, during which they plan to sign a civilian-nuclear co-operation agreement heralded by US President Donald Trump.

Led by Eurosceptic populists who oppose support for Ukraine and vocally back Trump, Slovakia and Hungary represent friendly territory for Rubio as he pushes to shore up energy agreements with both central European countries.

Widely considered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most reliable advocate in the EU, Orban has maintained warm relations with the Kremlin despite its war against Ukraine while currying favour with Trump and his MAGA movement.

Brent oil was quoted at $67.52 a barrel early in London on Monday, slightly up from $67.48 late on Friday.

Gold was quoted lower at $5,006.73 an ounce, against $5,016.78.

Still to come on Monday’s economic calendar, the eurozone has industrial production data.

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