London open: Stocks gain but Barclays bucks trend as Staley steps down

London stocks rose in early trade on Monday, taking their cue from a record close on Wall street and an upbeat session in Asia, but Barclays bucked the trend as chief executive Jes Staley stepped down.

At 0845 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.4% At 7,264.84.

BT was the standout gainer on the FTSE 100 following a report it will this week assert that its cost-cutting programme is ahead of schedule, as it prepares to make thousands more redundancies and bolsters its defences against a potential bid from French billionaire and Altice owner Patrick Drahi.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, the telecoms group is expected to hail the progress of its modernisation programme on Thursday alongside its third quarter update. It cited City sources as saying that chief executive Philip Jansen will announce that a target of £1bn in savings by March 2023 will be met at least a year early.

Elsewhere, Howden Joinery gained after saying it expects annual profits to be at the top end of current analyst forecasts of between £298m and £360m as the surge in DIY demand continued into the second half.

Land Securities ticked up after it agreed to buy property regeneration company U&I Group in a £190m deal.

On the downside, Barclays fell as it said chief executive Jes Staley was standing down with immediate effect after a probe by UK financial regulators into his links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Staley will be contesting the findings of the probe and in the meantime his replacement has already been announced, suggesting that contingency measures had already been put in place.

"Even so, the inevitable disruption will be an unwelcome side show to Barclays’ recently strengthening recovery."

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,264.84 0.38%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,183.81 0.33%
techMARK (TASX) 4,583.84 0.72%

FTSE 100 - Risers

BT Group (BT.A) 143.15p 3.06%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,322.00p 1.59%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,894.00p 1.54%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,530.40p 1.45%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 5,188.00p 1.37%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 50.90p 1.35%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 13,975.00p 1.30%
Next (NXT) 8,064.00p 1.23%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 165.78p 1.21%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,371.50p 1.18%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Darktrace (DARK) 785.00p -2.18%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 648.60p -2.17%
Barclays (BARC) 198.70p -1.76%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,676.00p -1.65%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 152.10p -1.59%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,290.00p -1.49%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,915.00p -0.85%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,672.60p -0.74%
ITV (ITV) 106.90p -0.70%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,347.50p -0.55%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Micro Focus International (MCRO) 370.30p 3.81%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 62.98p 2.91%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 343.60p 2.87%
Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) 2,240.00p 2.75%
Baillie Gifford Japan Trust (BGFD) 1,028.00p 2.59%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 943.20p 2.54%
SSP Group (SSPG) 263.90p 2.49%
Currys (CURY) 124.20p 2.31%
Carnival (CCL) 1,503.20p 2.26%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 358.40p 1.99%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Vistry Group (VTY) 1,185.50p -2.83%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 23.18p -2.77%
Bellway (BWY) 3,231.00p -2.48%
Redrow (RDW) 632.00p -2.05%
Energean (ENOG) 881.50p -1.78%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 9,550.00p -0.98%
Assura (AGR) 72.20p -0.96%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 352.60p -0.96%
Sirius Real Estate Ltd. (SRE) 134.00p -0.89%
Tritax Eurobox (GBP) (EBOX) 111.80p -0.89%