London stocks rebounded on Monday amid broader gains as investors digested corporate updates and assessed the potential impact of U.S. President Joe Biden quitting the reelection race, while Rentokil surged after a report of takeover interest.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index (.FTSE), opens new tab was up 0.5%, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 (.FTMC), opens new tab was up 0.3% by 0725 GMT.
Rentokil (RTO.L), opens new tab surged 12.3% to the top of the FTSE 100 after a report said that Philip Jansen, former chief of BT Group (BT.L), opens new tab, is working on a private equity-backed takeover bid for the pest-control firm.
It drove the broader industrial support services sector (.FTNMX502050), opens new tab 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 (.FTNMX405010), opens new tab slipped 1%, weighed down by airlines like Wizz Air (WIZZ.L), opens new tab and IAG Group (ICAG.L), opens new tab that fell between 3%-5% after Irish peer Ryanair (RYA.I), opens new tab missed quarterly profit estimates.
Meanwhile, U.S. 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 U.S., that could shed some more light on the Federal's Reserve monetary policy path.
Investors will also parse through corporate earnings in the U.S. and the UK, with companies like Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab and EV maker Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab on the radar. In London, Entain (ENT.L), opens new tab climbed 4.2% after the sports betting and gaming group said Gavin Isaacs has been appointed as its new CEO, effective Sept. 2. Ocado (OCDO.L), opens new tab jumped 6.3% to top the FTSE 250 after the online supermarket and technology group said its U.S. partner Kroger (KR.N), opens new tab had placed an order for a wide range of new automated technologies.
Hammerson (HMSO.L), opens new tab 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).
