London open: Stocks gain after Friday's losses; Entain jumps

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Monday, recovering from heavy losses at the end of last week on the back of a disappointing US non-farm payrolls report. At 0840 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 8,229.77.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Initial gains were not quite enough to reverse Friday's declines, although the FTSE 100 remains ahead by 6.4% in the year to date.

"May's record highs are now around 2.7% away, and further progress could be hamstrung amid what is currently a cautious investing environment."

In equity markets, Ladbrokes owner Entain jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 after it said online net gaming revenue growth during the second half to date has been ahead of its expectations.

Hunter said: "The spike in the price comes as something of a relief given that the shares have fallen by 45% over the last year, largely driven by regulatory threat and emerging competition in the US."

Flutter Entertainment also gained.

Elsewhere, Barratt Developments rose after saying that it, Homes England and Lloyds Bank had formed a joint venture that will focus on developments of large sites for housing.

Each partner will invest up to £150m in the venture, to be called the MADE Partnership, focusing on multiple large scale, residential-led developments from 1,000 to more than 10,000 homes "along with a variety of community facilities and employment uses".

Potential development opportunities will include large brownfield developments, as well as new garden village style communities.

Property portal Rightmove ticked higher after an upgrade to 'hold' from 'underperform' at Jefferies.

On the downside, Burberry fell after a downgrade to 'underweight' from 'equalweight' at Barclays, which cited structural brand weakness.

Barclays said that despite already being one of the worst-performing names in its space, it still sees downside for Burberry as it has concerns about the company's ability to remain a high-end luxury brand in line with its coverage "considering its lack of disciplined full-price strategy".

"Burberry looks likely to turn loss-making for the first time in H1-25 and considering that we expect the environment to remain tough next year, it could be difficult to see margin recovery in the short term," the bank said.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,229.77 0.59% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,593.40 0.49% techMARK (TASX) 4,838.56 0.45%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Entain (ENT) 674.60p 5.51% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 16,405.00p 2.31% Airtel Africa (AAF) 114.50p 2.05% Melrose Industries (MRO) 461.60p 1.83% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,665.50p 1.65% Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,272.00p 1.58% 3i Group (III) 3,123.00p 1.56% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 57.30p 1.56% Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 2,084.00p 1.56% Diploma (DPLM) 4,364.00p 1.54%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Burberry Group (BRBY) 590.60p -2.28% B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 423.70p -0.38% Pearson (PSON) 1,070.00p -0.33% AstraZeneca (AZN) 12,610.00p -0.32% Severn Trent (SVT) 2,702.00p -0.30% SEGRO (SGRO) 875.40p -0.23% Legal & General Group (LGEN) 224.70p -0.18% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,953.00p -0.15% Land Securities Group (LAND) 656.00p -0.15% National Grid (NG.) 1,018.00p -0.15%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Auction Technology Group (ATG) 387.00p 4.74% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 113.20p 3.10% Keller Group (KLR) 1,654.00p 2.86% Temple Bar Inv Trust (TMPL) 266.00p 2.50% Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 289.00p 2.48% Schroder Oriental Income Fund Ltd. (SOI) 268.00p 2.29% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 153.00p 2.20% Vesuvius (VSVS) 397.50p 2.05% QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 454.60p 1.97% Playtech (PTEC) 640.00p 1.59%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 3,045.00p -2.40% Ninety One (N91) 156.80p -1.75% Supermarket Income Reit (SUPR) 74.90p -1.58% Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 830.00p -1.37% Spirent Communications (SPT) 171.00p -1.33% XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 290.00p -1.02% Dr. Martens (DOCS) 67.00p -0.74% Ocado Group (OCDO) 333.60p -0.71% Computacenter (CCC) 2,572.00p -0.62% HGCapital Trust (HGT) 504.00p -0.59%