BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks turned in a mixed performance Monday morning in largely cautious moves by investors ahead of the Bank of England's monetary policy announcement this week. Sharply lower crude oil prices aided sentiment a bit.
Mining and realty stocks gained ground, while energy stocks fell.
Oil prices fell sharply as ongoing discussions involving Iranian officials and Qatari mediators have raised hopes of possible breakthrough that could ease supply concerns and improve the outlook for global energy markets.
Traders were also reacting to reports suggesting that U.S. President Donald Trump wants to give diplomacy with Iran more time before resuming strikes.
Brent crude front-month futures fell to $108.11 a barrel before edging up slightly to $108.50 (down $4.93 or 4.35%), still down sharply from previous close.
The benchmark FTSE 100, which recovered to 10,749.54 from an early low of 10,684.80, was down 6.87 points or 0.06% at 10,722.91 at noon.
Miners, Antofagasta and Anglo American Plc gained 2.3% and 1.8%, respectively. Fresnillo climbed 1.7% and Rio Tinto gained 1.1%.
St. James's Place, IAG, Weir, Kingfisher and JD Sports Fashion gained 2.5%-3.1%. Whitbread, British Land, Land Securities, Barratt Redrow, Imperial Brands, Coca-Cola HBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Howden Joinery Group, Burberry Group, Sainsbury (J), Marks & Spencer, Smiths and Tritax Big Box REIT climbed 1.5%-2.3%.
ICG, 3i Group, Tesco, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Babcock Internationa, Diageo and Polar Capital Technology Trust also moved notably higher.
FirstGroup jumped 4%. The U.K. bus and rail operator has agreed to sell five West Yorkshire depots and 330 buses to the regional transport authority for £109m and won two bus franchise contracts that are expected to generate around £40m of annual revenue.
Weighed down by weak oil prices, energy stocks Ithaca, BP and Shell dropped 2.1%, 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively.
Lion Finance shed 2.1%. Endeavour Mining, Vodafone Group, HSBC Holdings, Melrose Industries, WPP and GSK drifted lower by 0.8%-1.4%.
In economic news, the UK manufacturing activity expanded the most in five months in October as output and new orders gathered pace amid improving demand in both domestic and overseas markets, final purchasing managers' survey data from S&P Global showed.
The manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to a five-month high of 52.8 in October from 51.9 in the previous month. The score was unchanged from the flash estimate.
Business optimism rose to an eight-month high in October despite several firm raising concerns about possible government policy changes and the high-cost environment.
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