The FTSE 100 Opens at 10,709.78. Miners Rise as Oil Falls

The FTSE 100 opened on Monday at 10,709.78, up 35.84 points, or 0.3 per cent, from Friday's close of 10,673.94. It is the first full cash session in which traders can respond to that close with Bank Rate already at 4 per cent. The FTSE 250 opened up 36.89 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 24,541.53. The early buying was in the miners, helped by a rise in gold, and in the hope that the war premium in oil is easing. By 8.35am the FTSE 100 was at 10,692.78, still higher on the day, but only by 0.2 per cent. The open is not the close.

Brent was down 1.8 per cent at 96.54 dollars a barrel at that 8.35am reading. West Texas Intermediate was off 1.2 per cent at 89.74 dollars. Donald Trump said further strikes on Iran were highly unlikely if talks kept moving. That is the sentence the oil market traded. Sterling was quoted at 1.3409 dollars at the open, up from 1.3362 at Friday's equity close. An earlier indication had it at 1.3385. Against the euro it was little changed, around 1.1989.

Gold, miners, and a chipmaker's board

Endeavour Mining rose 3.1 per cent at the open. Fresnillo gained 2.8 per cent, Antofagasta 2.6, Anglo American 2.2 and Glencore 1.7. By 8.35am International Airlines Group was up 2.4 per cent. The fallers at that point included Burberry, down 2.0 per cent, Barratt Redrow, down 1.1 per cent, and Shell, down 0.4 per cent. A cheaper barrel helps the airlines and the high street more than it helps the oil majors. Housebuilders are still living with a Bank Rate that rose on Thursday, not with the gold price.

The other weekend story in the same technology complex that hit London on Friday is Nvidia. The company has opened an independent investigation after reports that Jensen Huang had a relationship with a woman suspected of spying for China. The board said it had no reason to believe secrets or national security had been compromised, and that Huang would stay as chief executive. Huang has said he was unfaithful to his wife and has apologised to his family. Friday's sell-off was about whether AI spending keeps its pace. A board-level inquiry at the firm that sells the picks and shovels does not answer that question. It keeps it open into the US session. Kainos, the Belfast software group, fell in London despite higher first-half profit and revenue.

The rate rise is in the price. The oil move is not finished

Thursday's Monetary Policy Committee vote, 8 to 1 for a rise from 3.75 per cent to 4 per cent, is no longer news. Catherine Mann wanted 4.25 per cent. Andrew Bailey said the increase should not be read as the start of a long sequence, and also that it was unlikely to be the last unless the Middle East conflict eased. Staff still expect inflation around 5 per cent by the middle of 2027 if the oil shock persists. A barrel back under 97 dollars is the market testing that "unless". Sunday's note said Monday would show which force the City trusted: cheaper energy, or dearer money, after an AI rout. The first hour trusted the miners and a calmer headline on Iran, and it did not trust them by much.

Households meet the rate in a different place. About 500,000 tracker mortgages pick up roughly 31 pounds a month. Two-year fixed rates are already up nearly 50 basis points since the start of September. The Lloyds index put the average house price at 296,285 pounds, down 0.6 per cent in October. None of that is in the 8.35am print. It is why a 0.2 per cent bounce, after a 1 per cent Friday fall, is a pause and not a verdict. EasyJet, separately, has opened a consultation on about 50 head-office jobs in Luton. A source close to the airline said the cuts were not part of the Apollo takeover process. The number that matters for the session is still the one on the screen at the close, not the one at the bell.