London open: Stocks edge up ahead of Ukraine peace talks

London stocks edged higher in early trade on Monday as investors eyed the next round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey.

At 0840 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 7,510.57.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: "European markets have started the week on a positive footing clinging to hopes that a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia could be in sight.

"The FTSE 100 is lagging behind the wider region dragged down by Rolls-Royce and Barclays. This week’s positivity marks a reversal from last week when the pan-European STOXX 600 logged its first weekly decline in three."

In equity markets, NatWest was up after saying it was buying back a 4.91% stake in the bank from the UK government for £1.2bn, taking the British taxpayers’ holding to below 50% for the first time since the financial crash of 2008. The bank said it would cancel the shares once repurchased. NatWest was bailed out by the taxpayer to the tune of £45bn as the global financial system faced meltdown after predatory lending and excessive risk-taking by the sector.

On the downside, aerospace and defence giant Rolls-Royce slid, having surged late on Friday after markets blog Betaville said it might be involved in a "significant corporate transaction, such as a merger or even a takeover offer for the business itself". According to Betaville, an unknown suitor may be in the early stages of weighing a deal "for or with Rolls-Royce".

Scholar said: "With nothing confirmed so far, the shares are losing steam this morning. However they are still trading significantly above Thursday’s close, suggesting there is still some M&A premium in the price with investors pinning their hopes on an approach."

Barclays was under the cosh on news the bank expects to take a £450m charge and will delay a share buyback until the second quarter after issuing almost double as many US structured notes and exchange traded notes as it had registered for sale.

Outside the FTSE 350, Ted Baker lost ground after saying it had rejected two unsolicited non-binding proposal from private equity firm Sycamore. The fashion retailer said Sycamore made a 130p a share cash proposal on 18 March and another at 137.5p a share on 22 March.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,510.57 0.36%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,047.05 0.43%
techMARK (TASX) 4,334.66 0.33%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Standard Chartered (STAN) 514.20p 1.90%
NATWEST GROUP PLC ORD 100P (NWG) 224.30p 1.72%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,085.00p 1.66%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 271.90p 1.64%
Aviva (AV.) 445.00p 1.64%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,809.00p 1.59%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 139.42p 1.53%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 134.30p 1.47%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 523.40p 1.28%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,518.00p 1.25%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 100.84p -8.44%
Barclays (BARC) 163.88p -2.04%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 553.60p -1.07%
Kingfisher (KGF) 262.00p -0.87%
National Grid (NG.) 1,116.80p -0.87%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 640.20p -0.71%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,368.00p -0.62%
Shell (SHEL) 2,098.00p -0.59%
BP (BP.) 389.40p -0.59%
BAE Systems (BA.) 750.60p -0.58%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Polymetal International (POLY) 215.00p 22.16%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 173.70p 4.70%
easyJet (EZJ) 532.00p 3.02%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 2,618.00p 2.59%
Mitie Group (MTO) 60.90p 2.35%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 935.00p 2.19%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 229.00p 2.10%
Savills (SVS) 1,159.00p 2.02%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 309.00p 1.98%
Vistry Group (VTY) 948.80p 1.91%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Rank Group (RNK) 138.20p -2.54%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 137.40p -2.41%
Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 306.00p -2.39%
JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust (JFJ) 506.00p -2.32%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 115.00p -1.54%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,342.00p -1.40%
Schroder Oriental Income Fund Ltd. (SOI) 267.00p -1.29%
Baillie Gifford Japan Trust (BGFD) 827.00p -1.19%
AVI Global Trust (AGT) 193.00p -1.13%
Witan Inv Trust (WTAN) 225.50p -0.88%