(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged up in early trade on Monday, with sentiment boosted by China reopening hopes and last week's US non-farm payrolls report.
At 0835 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 7,712.42.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: "The FTSE 100 is extending gains this morning having hit a three-year high on Friday. Miners like Antofagasta, Glencore and Anglo American are outperforming, thanks to a rally in China overnight as Beijing continues to ease its covid-era restrictions.

"European currencies are also strengthening on the back of a weaker US dollar thanks to a pickup in sentiment towards the US economy. Friday's December US jobs report outpaced analysts' expectations while wage growth was below forecasts, sparking a rally on Wall Street, lifting the major averages by more than 2% each with US futures pointing to a higher open at lunchtime."

Aside from miners, BT was also a big riser after an upgrade to 'buy' at Citi, while LSE was lifted by a resumption of coverage at 'buy' at Citi.

Elsewhere, AstraZeneca lost ground as it announced the acquisition of US-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company CinCor in a $1.8bn deal.

Ground engineering contractor Keller Group slumped as it issued a profit warning after uncovering financial fraud at its Australia business that resulted in two directors being sacked.

In what it called a "deliberate and sophisticated" reporting fraud at Austral, a civil, mining and marine contractor, profits from 2019 onwards had been overstated. The impact of the fraud on historical operating profits is currently estimated to be £6m related to the first half of 2022, and £8m to £10m relating to prior years.

Rathbones lost ground after a downgrade to 'underperform' at Jefferies.

Vodafone nudged down after saying it had entered into binding terms in relation to the sale of its Hungary unit to local IT company 4iG and state-owned Corvinus for €1.8bn.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,712.42 0.17%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,549.62 0.23%
techMARK (TASX) 4,504.43 0.01%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Glencore (GLEN) 539.70p 2.62%
BT Group (BT.A) 129.80p 2.49%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,696.00p 2.48%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,573.50p 1.84%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,268.00p 1.51%
Prudential (PRU) 1,246.50p 1.34%
Shell (SHEL) 2,376.50p 1.13%
BP (BP.) 481.95p 1.03%
Halma (HLMA) 2,084.00p 1.02%
RS Group (RS1) 943.00p 1.02%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 101.26p -1.59%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 861.80p -1.33%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 690.20p -1.09%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 87.75p -1.08%
BAE Systems (BA.) 849.00p -1.03%
Haleon (HLN) 314.30p -1.02%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,668.00p -0.97%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 563.60p -0.88%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,167.00p -0.82%
Schroders (SDR) 445.20p -0.78%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Wood Group (John) (WG.) 150.85p 3.04%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 2,618.00p 2.27%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 305.40p 2.24%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 152.80p 2.14%
Synthomer (SYNT) 158.50p 1.93%
FirstGroup (FGP) 107.00p 1.90%
OSB Group (OSB) 515.00p 1.88%
Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 3,625.00p 1.83%
Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 178.60p 1.82%
Energean (ENOG) 1,248.00p 1.79%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

PureTech Health (PRTC) 256.50p -5.00%
Keller Group (KLR) 807.00p -4.04%
Savills (SVS) 810.00p -2.35%
Indivior (INDV) 1,856.00p -1.95%
Urban Logistics Reit (SHED) 135.00p -1.46%
Schroder Oriental Income Fund Ltd. (SOI) 262.00p -1.32%
Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 646.00p -1.30%
Rathbones Group (RAT) 2,050.00p -1.20%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 925.00p -1.18%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 352.40p -1.12%