The FTSE 100 closed 0.12% higher at 8,014.31 and managed to stay above 8000, while the U.S. markets remained closed for President’s Day.
The FTSE 250 ended at 20,098.41 after gaining 9.4 points on Monday.
Many analysts felt European stock markets had a slow day amid a “light economic calendar” for the week ahead.
UK housing prices were mostly unaffected in February, as reported by real estate company Rightmove PLC (GB:RMV). For February, the average price of property came in at £362,452, as compared to £362,438 in January.
Talking about the upcoming earnings, this week will see results from banks like HSBC Holdings (GB:HSBA) on Tuesday and Lloyds Banking Group (GB:LLOY) on Wednesday. Analysts remain upbeat on these numbers, driven by higher interest rates in the economy.
The mining giant Rio Tinto (GB:RIO) will also report its 2022 annual results on Wednesday.
Moving on to company news, Tesco PLC (GB:TSCO) announced on Monday that it will increase its workers’ hourly pay by 7%, starting in April 2023. This will impact more than 200,000 employees working in its stores.
This news came as a relief for workers, especially after the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) said on Monday that almost 15,000 retail jobs had been cut in the UK since the start of 2023.
Top Gainers and Losers
Topping the list of the FTSE 100 gainers was mining company Anglo American PLC (GB:AAL), which gained 3.9% in a day. The company will announce its full-year results for 2022 on February 23.
On the FTSE 250 list, Wood Group (John) PLC (GB:WG) shares topped the list and traded high by 5.48%.
Among the losers, the stock of pharmaceutical company Indivior PLC (GB:INDV) fell the most, by 6.1%. The stock is down by 11% in the last five days over the latest litigation issues.
Packaging company DS Smith PLC (GB:SMDS) lost 4.9% on Monday after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded their rating from “Buy” to “Neutral” on its stock.
