LONDON MARKETS: London Markets Climb; Mining Shares Boost FTSE 100

By Emily Horton

London markets ended higher Monday, helped by earlier weakness in the British pound.

The heavyweight mining sectors helped support the FTSE 100.

How did markets perform?

The British pound was under pressure in earlier action as investors awaited a vote in Parliament later this week on Brexit. The pound jumped after the end of U.K. trading, however, rising to $1.3143 versus $1.3014 late Friday in New York.

But sterling's earlier weakness helped London stocks outperform its European peers on Monday, analysts said, leading to a 0.4% climb to 7,130.62 for the U.K.'s FTSE 100 after ending the previous week flat.

What's driving the markets?

May will head to Strasbourg, France, for last-minute talks with senior European Union officials in a bid to get concessions that would allow her Brexit plan to win backing from members of the U.K. Parliament, the BBC reported (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47530505). On Tuesday British lawmakers are scheduled to vote on her deal (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/brexit-brief-another-may-delay-on-the-way-2019-03-11).

"This week, investors will closely monitor the U.K. parliamentary voting starting tomorrow in order to determine the short-term trade direction," Konstantinos Anthis, head of research at ADSS, told clients in a note.

The Bank of England has ordered some U.K. lenders to triple the amount of easy-to-sell assets they hold to help them endure a no-deal Brexit crisis, the Financial Times reported (https://www.ft.com/content/7450737a-4356-11e9-b168-96a37d002cd3?emailId=5c85da12a114dd0004a40895&segmentId=22011ee7-896a-8c4c-22a0-7603348b7f22) on Sunday. "A sign that the Bank of England is getting a little nervous ahead of this month's deadline" Michael Hewson, chief market analysts at CMC Markets said in a client note.

Meanwhile, weaker-than-expected Chinese loan and money supply data and declining car sales data (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-car-sales-continued-to-skid-in-february-2019-03-11) added to global economic slowdown fears.

What stocks are active?

A number of heavyweight miners supported the FTSE 100 on Monday, both Antofagasta PLC (ANTO.LN) and Glencore PLC (GLEN.LN) climbed 1.8% while Anglo American PLC(AAL.LN) added 0.8%.

UK-listed pharmaceutical stocks were also up, with heavyweights AstraZeneca PLC (AZN.LN) rising by 0.7%.

Budget airline Ryanair Holdings PLC(RYAAY), a customer of Boeing Co (BA), lost more than 2% on Monday after a Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crashed while flying for Ethiopian Airline on Sunday, killing all 157 people on board.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 11, 2019 13:33 ET (17:33 GMT)

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