London stocks rose in early trade on Monday, with gold miners pacing the gains as the yellow metal breached $5,000 an ounce for the first time, at the start of a busy week that will see earnings from four of the 'Magnificent Seven' across the pond and a policy announcement from the Federal Reserve.
At 0825 GMT, the FTSE 100 was 0.3% higher at 10,169.04.
Meanwhile, gold futures were up 2.2% at $5,126.76 an ounce as investors continued to flock to safe haven assets. Silver prices, which recently breached $100 for the first time, were also higher, up nearly 6% at $106.61 an ounce.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said: "What's striking is that this renewed flight to safe havens is unfolding without any major geopolitical headline this morning. There has been no new escalation over the weekend - no fresh breach of international law, no invasion, no immediate military threat.
"The US did, however, threaten Canada with 100% tariffs, after Mark Carney approached China last week, defying the White House - a reminder that trade tensions remain alive and well. Beyond that, the news flow is thin. Yet the bid for precious metals suggests that market stress is far from over."
Looking to the rest of the week, US tech giants Meta, Tesla and Microsoft's earnings are due on Wednesday, while Apple's first-quarter results will be out on Thursday.
On home shores, investors mulled a survey showing that private sector activity continued to weaken in the three months to January, weighing on sentiment.
According to the Confederation of British Industry's latest growth indicator, private sector activity fell in the three months to January, with a balance of -33, largely unchanged on December's -34. All sub-sectors reported falling activity, the CBI noted.
The weak performance also weighed on expectations, with activity forecast to continue faltering in the coming months.
The balance for activity expectations over the next three months was -20, although it was an improvement on December's -30.
The most pessimistic were consumer services providers, with a balance of -38 expecting business volumes to decline over the next three months. Professional services firms were more confident, with a balance of -11, giving the overall sector a balance of -16.
Away from the dominant services sector, business volumes in the distribution and manufacturing sectors were also slated to fall, with balances of -37 and -14 respectively.
Alpesh Paleja, CBI deputy chief economist, said: "The UK economy has not experienced a strong start to 2026.
"While there are tentative signs of stabilisation and resilience in some specific areas, the big picture remains similar to much of last year: businesses remain cautious, households are downtrading and confidence is still fragile.
"Recent geopolitical tensions will only have added to uncertainty at the margin.
"Worrying, our latest surveys show that persistently weak growth expectations are now accompanied by an uptick in price pressures, at a time when inflation is already uncomfortably high."
In equity markets, Spire Healthcare surged after it confirmed preliminary takeover talks with private equity firms Bridgepoint and Triton.
Precious metals miner Fresnillo and gold miners Hochschild and Endeavour all shone amid the rally in gold prices.
Residential landlord Grainger rose as it said its property joint venture with Transport for London has agreed to forward fund and buy a 195-home rental project at Chiswick Reach in West London to be developed in partnership by Barratt Redrow.
GSK nudged higher as it said the European Commission has approved its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine for use in all adults.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,169.04 0.25%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,386.93 0.30%
techMARK (TASX) 5,933.16 -0.01%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 4,328.00p 3.84%
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,167.00p 3.70%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,666.00p 2.29%
SEGRO (SGRO) 745.40p 2.17%
Aviva (AV.) 631.40p 1.94%
Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 43.38p 1.82%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 366.80p 1.61%
Admiral Group (ADM) 2,692.00p 1.58%
Beazley (BEZ) 1,170.00p 1.56%
Mondi (MNDI) 887.00p 1.46%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 134.90p -1.53%
3i Group (III) 3,239.00p -1.52%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,936.00p -1.36%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 412.90p -1.29%
easyJet (EZJ) 476.10p -1.20%
Autotrader Group (AUTO) 561.60p -1.20%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 12,860.00p -1.00%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,202.00p -0.66%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,245.00p -0.64%
Informa (INF) 908.00p -0.63%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 210.00p 17.85%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 756.00p 7.69%
Pan African Resources (PAF) 146.20p 5.48%
Ninety One (N91) 249.20p 4.36%
Target Healthcare Reit Ltd (THRL) 106.00p 3.92%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 4,516.00p 3.44%
THG (THG) 42.72p 3.29%
Pollen Street Group Limited (POLN) 932.00p 1.97%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 488.40p 1.96%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 998.00p 1.94%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
IP Group (IPO) 56.50p -2.42%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 505.50p -2.41%
FirstGroup (FGP) 182.20p -1.94%
Pagegroup (PAGE) 200.00p -1.86%
Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 368.00p -1.60%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 2,815.00p -1.57%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,299.00p -1.44%
Ruffer Investment Company Ltd Red PTG Pref Shares (RICA) 304.00p -1.30%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,475.00p -1.20%
Computacenter (CCC) 3,324.00p -1.19%