The FTSE 100 opened on Monday up 44 points thanks to resource stocks and pharmaceutical companies.
One of Monday’s biggest gainers was the mining giant BHP Billiton plc (LON:BLT), which edged up 1.7% to 1,639.2p.
UK retailers struggled, with Kingfisher PLC (LON:KGF) and Burberry Group PLC (LON:BRBY) falling 3.8% and 3.3% respectively.
Shares in Micro Focus (LON: MCRO) are performing strongly and were up by 5.1% at £12.94 on Monday after the software developer said that full-year sales would be at the top end of forecasts.
Whilst remaining in the green today, analysts expect the FTSE 100 to remain fairly subdued until Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Neil Wilson, of Markets.com, said: “The question here is does a loss of Republican power tie Trump’s hands-on issues like trade, or does it embolden him further to strike executive orders?”
“Is a weakened Trump positive or negative for the US dollar? Got to look at being a negative, ie weaker dollar if the Democrats do well. For equities, we are also still digesting Friday’s nonfarm payrolls print, which indicated further strong jobs and wage growth.”
“The 3.1% print on wages will do nothing to tell the Fed to take its foot off the tightening pedal,” he added.
In the FTSE 250, Hiscox (LON: HSX) was one of the biggest fallers, with shares falling by 6.2%.
Russ Mould, the investment director at AJ Bell, said: “Lloyd’s of London underwriter Hiscox is the latest company to feel the wrath of disappointed investors as it says growth in insurance premiums could moderate. It also reports an up-tick in claims activity and warns that its full-year investment return will be subdued as a result of ongoing economic and global political tensions.”
“One could argue that this part of the insurance market regularly goes through ups and downs and that panicking about short-term issues is not the right thing to do.”
“Higher claims levels from hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires, for example, often lead to higher insurance premiums, which gives a boost to future earnings; however, the industry has been slightly disappointed with the scale of recent price hikes,” Mould continued.”
The big unknown is how long it will take for Hiscox’s situation to improve,” he added.
