London stocks rebounded on Monday amid broader gains as investors digested corporate updates and assessed the potential impact of US President Joe Biden quitting the reelection race, while Rentokil surged after a report of takeover interest.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.5%, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 was up 0.3% by 0725 GMT.
Rentokil surged 12.3% to the top of the FTSE 100 after a report said that Philip Jansen, former chief of BT Group, is working on a private equity-backed takeover bid for the pest-control firm. It drove the broader industrial support services sector 2.6% higher, which led gains.
Most sub-sectors trended higher as the market recovered from Friday’s declines.
On the other side, travel and leisure stocks slipped 1%, weighed down by airlines like Wizz Air and IAG Group that fell between 3%-5% after Irish peer Ryanair missed quarterly profit estimates.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden abandoned his reelection bid on Sunday and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s candidate to face Republican Donald Trump in the November election.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures edged higher following the news.
All eyes will now be on the gross domestic product and crucial inflation data out of the US, that could shed some more light on the Federal’s Reserve monetary policy path.
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Investors will also parse through corporate earnings in the US and the UK, with companies like Alphabet and EV maker Tesla on the radar.
In London, Entain climbed 4.2% after the sports betting and gaming group said Gavin Isaacs has been appointed as its new CEO, effective Sept. 2.
Ocado jumped 6.3% to top the FTSE 250 after the online supermarket and technology group said its US partner Kroger had placed an order for a wide range of new automated technologies.
Hammerson advanced 6.5% after the shopping centre owner said it has entered into an agreement to dispose its interest in Value Retail to Silver Bidco Limited for an enterprise value of 1.5 billion pounds ($1.94 billion).
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