London pre-open: Stocks seen muted in quiet trade
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Monday 11 Aug 2025
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set for a muted open on Monday in what looked set to be a fairly quiet start to the week.
The FTSE 100 was called to open around five points higher.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said: "The week starts with gains in most Asian indices, and futures are in the positive in the early hours of the trading week. The S&P 500 posted its strongest week since late June on the back of robust earnings, further appetite for technology stocks, and hopes of progress in the Ukrainian war.
"Trade and tariff chaos have been, for now, left behind - which has translated into improved sentiment in the Stoxx 600, although the concrete implications will come to investors' attention in waves as data flows in and shows the damage.
"But this Monday morning, attention is on Ukraine and optimism that there could be progress. Gold is trading lower, and crude oil is under pressure. The price of a barrel finally cleared a critical Fibonacci support last week, near the $65.20pb level, and is now in a medium-term bearish consolidation zone with trend and momentum indicators suggesting room for a deeper slide, while the RSI indicator is not yet near the oversold level. The ample supply and cloudy demand outlook support the bearish camp, yet any disappointment on the Ukraine front could rapidly reverse the latest decline and send the price of a barrel back above the $65pb level."
In corporate news, fintech business Plus500 posted a solid set of first-half results, with strategic expansion and product diversification helping it maintain momentum across its trading platform business.
Revenues rose 4% year-on-year to $415.1m, while underlying earnings ticked up 1% to $185.1m. EBITDA margins dipped slightly from 46% to 45%, reflecting increased investment in growth initiatives, while active customer numbers grew 2% to 179,931, with average revenue per user up 2% to $2,307.
Drug maker GSK moved closer to expanding its antibiotic portfolio after US regulators accepted its application to review gepotidacin as a potential oral treatment for gonorrhoea.
The FDA's priority review follows positive phase III data from the EAGLE-1 trial, which showed gepotidacin delivered a 92.6% success rate at the urogenital site, compared to 91.2% for the standard combination of intramuscular ceftriaxone and oral azithromycin.
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