London stocks inch up tracking Wall Street gains; eye on BoE comments

UK shares edged higher on Monday as markets tracked the upbeat sentiment from Wall Street over the weekend, while investors braced for a data-heavy week, including domestic consumer prices that could offer clues on the monetary policy path. The blue-chip FTSE 100 gained 0.1% by 0836 GMT, while the midcap FTSE 250 was up 0.7%.

UK shares edged higher on Monday as markets tracked the upbeat sentiment from Wall Street over the weekend, while investors braced for a data-heavy week, including domestic consumer prices that could offer clues on the monetary policy path.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 gained 0.1% by 0836 GMT, while the midcap FTSE 250 was up 0.7%. Markets digested the benchmark S&P 500 closing above 5,000 for the first time on Friday, with boosts from megacap stocks, though the focus remained on the raft of economic data this week.

Market participants will await comments from Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey later in the day, besides domestic and U.S. inflation data later this week, for any clues on when the interest rates might begin easing. Pharmaceuticals was a drag, down 1.4%, as AstraZeneca fell 1.9% after Barclays cut its price target for the drugmaker to 12,500 pounds from 13,500 pounds.

Among corporate updates, Frasers Group gained 2.4% after the British retailer said it intends to commence a new share buyback programme with Deutsche Numis for no greater than 80 million pounds.