London stocks start strong as banks and miners rise; John Wood slumps

UK's FTSE 100 opened higher on Monday, lifted by lenders and precious metal miners, but mid-cap oilfield services and engineering firm John Wood Group logged its worst day ever after Apollo Global walked away from a potential deal. The blue-chip FTSE 100 rose 0.3% up, extending gains from Friday, after data showed the domestic economy grew slightly in the first quarter of the year.

UK's FTSE 100 opened higher on Monday, lifted by lenders and precious metal miners, but mid-cap oilfield services and engineering firm John Wood Group logged its worst day ever after Apollo Global walked away from a potential deal.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 rose 0.3% up, extending gains from Friday, after data showed the domestic economy grew slightly in the first quarter of the year. Precious metals miners were the biggest boost, gaining 1.5%, tracking gains in bullion prices.

Banks were up by 0.8% at 8:28 GMT. The mid-cap FTSE 250 rose marginally by 0.01% as shares of John Wood Group dragged the domestically-focussed index lower.

The oilfield services provider slumped 33.8% after the U.S. private equity firm said that it does not intend to make a takeover offer for the oilfield services provider. "Clearly investors were excited about the possibility of a takeover by Apollo, and the fact that no agreement has been reached is a disappointment," said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.

Last week, the FTSE indexes closed lower, with the export-focused FTSE 100 ending its third-straight week in declines - its longest streak of weekly losses in seven months. Half-way into May, top gaining FTSE firms lie in the defensive segment such as utilities and healthcare, while cyclical sectors including commodity-linked stocks have been the most hit.

Among other movers, Currys PLC jumped 5.7%, logging its best day in over three months after the electricals retailer raised its profit outlook for 2022-23 after better-than-expected trading in its home market in the final two months of the year. The retail sector housing the stock added 0.2%.

Pembridge Resources Plc slumped 72.4% and hit a record low as the miner's board started a process of assessing the firm's ability to continue as a going concern.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)