UK’s FTSE 100 Starts Holiday-Shortened Week Higher

(Reuters) -Britain’s benchmark FTSE 100 kicked off a holiday-shortened week on a higher note on Monday, while investors analysed data that showed the British economy flat-lined in the third quarter of the year.

The export-oriented FTSE 100 was up 0.2% after logging its worst week in more than a year on Friday. The domestically focused FTSE 250 was down 0.2%.

Trading volumes are expected to be thin in the week with the British markets closing early on Tuesday and shut on Wednesday and Thursday.

AstraZeneca rose 1.6% after its lung-cancer drug was approved in the European Union, helping pharma and biotech shares lead sectoral gains with a 1.2% rise.

Energy companies were up 0.6% after last week’s lower-than-expected U.S. inflation reading stabilized oil prices. [O/R]

On the flip side, industrial support services led losses with a 0.8% decline.

Meanwhile, official figures showed Britain’s economy failed to grow during the first three months of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s new government, adding to signs of a slowdown that has cast a shadow over his time in office so far.

Separately, a survey showed British business confidence fell to its lowest level of 2024 in December, although employers were a bit more optimistic about the wider economy.

A hawkish interest rate outlook from the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England keeping its rates on hold and data showing high inflation and wage growth in the British economy led the two indexes to log losses in the last week.

Among individual stocks, Direct Line rose 3.8% to the top of the mid-cap index after insurer Aviva agreed to buy the smaller rival in a 3.7 billion pound ($4.65 billion) cash-and-stock deal.

Airtel Africa gained 3.1% to top the blue-chip index after commencing a second share buyback programme of up to $100 million.

(Reporting by Nikhil Sharma and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Sharon Singleton)