UK stocks pause after recent gains; HSBC dips

By Avinash P

(Reuters) -London-listed stocks ended flat on Monday as investors paused after a recent rally, while HSBC slipped after the lending giant said its quarterly results will be hit after losing part of a court appeal in Luxembourg.

HSBC had fallen as much 2.4% during the session after it said it will report a $1.1 billion provision in its third-quarter results, due on Tuesday, after losing part of an appeal tied to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme. The lender's shares ended down 0.3%.

More broadly, both the internationally-focused FTSE 100 and the domestically-focused FTSE ended flat.

The FTSE 100 touched record levels last week, while the FTSE 250 hit levels last seen nearly four years ago as signs of moderating price pressures boosted expectations of imminent interest rate cuts by the Bank of England.     

"The (FTSE 100) has had a good run and after the sort of sudden outbreak of popular enthusiasm about the UK with the CPI figures last week, hopes are that maybe we have turned a corner," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group.

"There's obviously optimism about the UK, I wouldn't say it's rampant, but it's still people seeing a lot of value in the index."    

Global sentiment was also upbeat on expectations of the U.S. sealing a trade deal with China, which sent safe-haven asset gold below $4,000 per ounce. This weighed on UK-listed precious metal miners which lost 5.8%. 

In a bright spot, Goodwin surged 33.3% to a record high after the mechanical engineering company forecast annual profit above expectations and declared an unexpected one-off interim dividend.

Convenience food manufacturer Greencore dropped 1.6% after Britain's competition regulator said that the proposed 1.2 billion pound ($1.61 billion) merger with peer Bakkavor might harm competition in the supply of own-label chilled sauces.

Meanwhile, trade body Make UK said British manufacturers are investing the least in new equipment relative to their sales since 2017 and urged the government to streamline tax incentives in next month's annual budget.

(Reporting by Avinash P and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Sharon Singleton)