The FTSE 100 dipped on Monday, dragged down by oil and mining stocks, reflecting uncertainty felt by investors ahead of the delayed OPEC+ meeting on Thursday.
Oil prices also fell amid uncertainty about the direction of production cuts by the cartel, with brent crude (BZ=F) around 0.8% lower by the opening bell in London and crude (CL=F) down 1%. Crude was trading at $74.79 per barrel, while brent crude was as low as $79.87 per barrel.
The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) opened almost 0.3% lower, Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) was down 0.2% and the CAC (^FCHI) in Paris fell 0.1%.
Both Saudi Arabia and Russia — two of the nations producing the most oil — are expected to deepen supply cuts after leading the group in curbing supply earlier this year.
Index heavyweights Shell, BP and Rio Tinto were all among the top fallers on Monday morning in London.
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The more domestically focused FTSE 250 (^FTMC) rose 0.2% in early trade.
Follow along for live updates today:
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A £29.5bn pledge
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is hosting business leaders at Hampton Court this morning to mark foreign firms’ plans to invest in the UK.
The government has said £29.5bn has been pledged across a number or different sectors.
The meeting follows last week’s autumn statement, which laid out measures to encourage business investment in Britain.
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Metrobank shareholder vote
Metrobank will be a story to watch today ahead of a key shareholder vote scheduled later on. The vote will decide whether to back a rescue deal aimed at securing the future of the bank, which has had a turbulent year.
The deal includes £325m in new funding and the refinancing of £600m of debt. The bank said it is ‘likely’ to be approved.
Under the deal, Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal will become Metro’s controlling shareholder with a 53% stake. His firm, Spaldy Investments, is putting £102m into the bank.
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Overnight in Asia
Asian stock indexes were broadly lower by the close on Monday, with Chinese stocks leading declines off the back of weak data.
Traders will be looking to PMI readings on Thursday for an indication of the health of the Chinese economy in November. The data follows a surprisingly weak batch of data from October.
The Hang Seng (^HSI) finished 0.2% lower, the SSE Composite (000001.SS) fell 0.3% and Japan’s Nikkei (^N225) was 0.5% lower.
Asian investors will also watch for inflation and retail sales data out of Australia later this week.
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Good morning from London, where an arctic chill has settled over the city. Commodities are in the spotlight going into the week as traders await the delayed OPEC+ meeting. But first… let’s see what happened earlier this morning in Asia.
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