The FTSE 100 started the week on the front foot, helped higher by Reckitt Benckiser and a strong session for mining companies.

However, London’s leading was down 0.1% at the time of writing after finding resistance at 7,750. Traders will eye a break of last week’s high of 7,775 for further gains in the index.

Reckitt Benckiser was the best performer as traders stepped into the stock after a sharp sell-off on Friday. Miners were also stronger following upbeat economic news from China.

“The FTSE 100 ticked higher at the start of the week with bargain hunters swooping on Reckitt after a big sell-off last week linked to baby food legal claims,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“Mining stocks moved higher as Chinese industrial production was above expectations. Given the world’s second largest economy is the most rapacious global consumer of commodities, the fortunes of the resources space are closely tied to its economic fortunes.

There was interest in Ocado shares which gained 2.8% and Beazley continued to tick higher.

US futures were also higher, helping lift the mood ahead of major central bank meetings this week. The Bank of England and the Federal Reserve will meet to decide on interest rates this week, and no change is expected in the benchmark rates.

Last year, the March meetings were earmarked for the first rate cuts by the BoE and the Fed. However, resilience in the US economy and persistently high inflation in the UK have pushed expectations of the first rate cut back to June.

“At one time, this week would have been pegged as the point at which central bankers in the US and UK pivoted to rate cuts but although that is now unlikely, the meetings of the Federal Reserve and Bank of England will still be watched closely for signals of when this pivot might finally come,” Russ Mould said.

Indeed, the timing of the UK’s first rate cut is still the subject of intense speculation. With inflation well above the BoE’s 2% target and the UK recession deemed only to be shallow, the reasons to cut rates aren’t present.

“The Bank of England will be minded to keep interest rates on hold when it meets on Thursday and there’s been no significant economic data which would prompt them to take action at this juncture,” said Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell.

“If anything the National Insurance cut announced in the Budget will probably raise some inflationary concerns. At the last vote in February two members of the Bank’s committee wanted to raise interest rates to 5.5%, so victory against inflation is not universally accepted by policy makers.”

The major drivers for FTSE 100 stocks will be the commentary accompanying the rate decision and the Bank of England’s economic projections and the shift in the language around inflation.

Currys shares rose on Monday after increasing profit guidance for the year and conforming neither Elliot nor JD.com had made formal offers, and the allotted time period to do so had now ended.

The group said like-for-like sales in the UK & Ireland and Nordics are positive and increased profit guidance to £115m.

This will be welcome news for investors who now face the prospect of Currys continuing by itself after the two potential bidders pulled out.

“Its two suitors may have walked away, but Currys has started the week with its head a bit higher, by raising its profit forecasts for the year. Shares slid on Friday after the news that JD.Com was joining Elliott Investment Management in backing out of potential takeovers and they made up a small bit of ground in early trading,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“The board was steadfast in its view that the offers priced the company too low, given that it’s partly the current economic climate which is to blame for its lacklustre performance.  Today’s figures give a little more weight to their opinion, with the retailer upping pre-tax profit forecasts to at least £115 million, up from the previous range of £105-115 million, but there is clearly more work to be done.”

Currys takeover interest may have been a surprise for market participants given the generally poor conditions for consumers. However, the opportunistic bids will make more and more sense if Currys can build on today’s guidance upgrade.

“Consumer electronics has been a challenging place to be, with shoppers’ spending power under pressure, but with inflation set to fall and interest rate cuts eyed on the horizon, there are hopes that these headwinds are subsiding, amid some signs of ‘encouraging momentum’,” Streeter said.

“There are also bright spots emerging for the group’s services channels which have the potential to make customers more sticky, with Chief Executive Alex Baldock underlining that the group was selling more solutions and services that boost margins.”

Currys shares were 3.45% higher at 58.5p at the time of writing.

Rightmove has released positive data on the UK housing market, pointing to prices rising at the fastest pace for 10 months.

Rightmove said the average asking price is up 1.5%, equivalent to £5,279 this month, to £368,118.

“Today’s data shows that the property sector is showing signs of recovery and the outlook has considerably improved,” said Daniel Austin, CEO and co-founder at ASK Partners.

Righmove’s data is consistent with measured improvements in the UK housing market announced by Halifax and Nationwide.

The impact of lower mortgage rates and an easing of the cost-of-living crisis is bringing more buyers back to the market.

“Now that balance is being better struck and with interest rates remaining stable, we are seeing signs of normality and strong overall indicators now is an attractive time to buy or sell property,” said Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark.

“Our member agents have reported an 80 per cent increase in the number of new properties available and a 129 per cent increase in the number of market appraisals undertaken, showing there is growing appetite amongst buyers and sellers alike.”

Groundwork building suppliers Marshalls shares fell on Monday after announcing downbeat results for the year ending 31st December 2023.

Revenue for the year was 7% lower at £671.2m as challenging conditions curtailed their customer’s ability to spend.

Despite Marshalls’ efforts to prop up earnings to lower costs, the overarching headwinds in the UK‘s construction industry resulted in profit falling faster than previously thought. EBITDA fell 24% in 2023 and operating profit sank 30%.

Marshalls shares were over 10% lower at the time of writing. The drop served as a reality check after the shares ground higher from year’s lows amid a broad rally in property and construction-related stocks.

The shares now appear to have decoupled from underlying business performance in the later part of 2023 and today snapped in line with a soggy year for earnings. 

Highlighting the challenges Marshalls continues to face in 2024, the company said revenues in the first two months of 2024 were lower than in 2023. Full year 2024 revenues are expected to be a similar level to 2023.

The new CEO appointed at the beginning of March has a job on his hands. 

“The building market in the UK has been under significant pressure due to inflation and higher rates and this also extends to those firms who supply the materials such as Marshalls. The recovery has been slower than anticipated and profits have taken a sizeable hit as a result,” said Adam Vettese, analyst at investment platform eToro.

“Whilst there is not much any company can do about the macro factors, Marshalls have been focused on keeping a lid on costs while the market has been tough which it has done reasonably well, though in relative terms, this has not done a great deal to offset the sluggish start to the year. Guidance has been lowered to similar levels seen in 2023 and new chief executive Matt Pullen faces a tough start to his time in the hot seat, already needing to steer a turnaround in fortunes to salvage the year.”