Early market roundup: London stocks down ahead of Burnham becoming PM

Stock prices in London were mostly lower on Monday morning ahead of Andy Burnham becoming the UK's next prime minister; meanwhile Plexus Holdings shares jumped as it announced an agreement with Cactus Wellhead.

The FTSE 100 index opened down 64.23 points, 0.6%, at 10,536.14. The FTSE 250 was down 83.47 points, 0.4%, at 23,521.36, and the AIM all-share was down 0.85 points, 0.1%, at 758.46.

The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.4% at 1,047.87, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.3% at 20,392.32, and the Cboe small companies was up 0.1% at 18,409.45.

Andy Burnham will enter 10 Downing Street promising to give people "breathing room" against the rising cost of living, PA reported.

Allies of Burnham said he will argue on Monday that political stability must deliver "tangible" improvements along with the "breathing room" on the cost of living he has previously promised.

Monday caps a rapid transition for Burnham, coming barely a month after he returned to Westminster following his victory in the Makerfield by-election.

Without a full leadership contest, the new prime minister has yet to set out much of his agenda for his premiership.

Meanwhile in the Middle East, US strikes hit several locations in Iran's southern port city of Bushehr, home to the country's only civilian nuclear plant, state media reported on Monday.

"A few minutes ago, several locations in Bushehr city were hit by the American enemy's projectiles," said Bushehr governor Mohammad Mozaffari, as quoted by official state news agency IRNA.

This followed news of a new round of airstrikes early on Monday from the US, while Iran responded by launching an attack targeting Bahrain.

A ship caught fire early on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz near the coastline of Oman, the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre said. It was unclear what sparked the blaze off Oman, which has been a route the US military has encouraged ships to travel to avoid Iran's control. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard later claimed it was targeting tankers in the strait.

In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was marginally higher, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.2%.

Germany's producer price index showed a 0.3% month-on-month decrease for June, flipping from a 0.3% rise in May and surpassing the FXStreet-cited consensus for a 0.2% decrease.

Energy prices fell by 1.8% on a monthly basis, but were "only slightly higher" year-on-year with a 0.4% rise. Prices of mineral oil products fell by 7.4% on-month but increased by 23.7% annually.

The pound was quoted at USD1.3474 early Monday, up compared to USD1.3431. Against the euro, sterling rose to EUR1.1770 from EUR1.1753 a day prior. The euro stood at USD1.1442, against USD1.1441. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY162.36 compared to JPY162.37.

In Asia on Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was closed for Marine Day.

The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.1%.

In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.9%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 2.2%.

The People's Bank of China has maintained its one-year loan prime rate at 3.0%, in line with the FXStreet-cited consensus, while its five-year loan prime rate remained at 3.5%.

In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.8%, the S&P 500 down 1.0% and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.4%.

Tesla on Saturday published consensus estimates of sell-side analysts for its second-quarter earnings, which predict a slight uptick in quarterly profit and a notable improvement for the full year.

The Austin, Texas-based carmaker and electronics company cited the average of analyst consensus for attributable net income as USD1.28 billion, which is up from USD1.17 billion the year prior.

Total revenue is forecast at an average of USD27.58 billion, signalling an improvement after sinking 16% to USD16.61 billion a year earlier.

Tesla said the average consensus for second-quarter earnings per share amounts to 36 US cents. In 2025, second-quarter EPS fell 18% on-year to 33 cents.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.56%, widening from 4.53%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 5.08%, widening from 5.06%.

Gold was quoted higher at USD4,017.75 an ounce against USD4,014.29.

Brent oil was quoted at USD88.80 a barrel early in London on Monday, up from USD86.53 late Friday.

Oil majors BP and Shell were among the FTSE 100 winners, up 0.9% and 0.4%, respectively.

Computacenter led the index, up 3.5%, after Berenberg raised it to 'buy' and increased its price target to 5,300 pence.

Also on the FTSE 100, Segro lost 2.1%, leading the laggers.

The warehouse landlord has a third takeover approach from San Francisco, California-based rival ProLogis, offering 0.0890 new ProLogis shares for each Segro share and a partial cash alternative of up to £2.7 billion.

ProLogis said its proposal values Segro at 993p per share, or approximately £13.5 billion.

ProLogis claimed its second-quarter results further enhance the proposal, noting year-on-year same-store NOI growth of 8.5% and USD2.1 billion, which exceeds its previous full-year guidance, in first-half data centre starts.

On the FTSE 250, Advanced Medical Solutions rose 0.1%.

The medical device company said it remains confident it will deliver 2026 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in line with current market expectations.

In the shorter term, it expects to report half-year revenue of approximately £115.2 million, up from £110.8 million, despite delays to some orders.

On AIM, Plexus Holdings surged 24% higher after the wellhead services firm announced an agreement with Cactus Wellhead "to develop and qualify a range of wellhead products for offshore energy applications."

Still to come on Monday's economic calendar, eurozone construction output data is followed by Canada's consumer price index inflation.

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