-- Britain's FTSE 100 closed 0.17% lower on Monday after the failed negotiations between the US and Iran in Pakistan, followed by renewed threats from US President Donald Trump to block "any and all ships" entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz.
In response to Trump's comment, Prime Minister Keir Starmer told BBC Radio 5 Live that the UK will not be involved in the US military's blockade of Iran, adding that the government's response is focused on getting the Strait of Hormuz reopened to lower energy prices "as quickly as possible."
On the economic calendar, investors will evaluate the British Retail Consortium's retail sales monitor on Tuesday, and monthly gross domestic product, industrial production, and construction output data on Thursday. Economists from Deutsche Bank Research forecast the British economy to have grown 0.2% month over month in February, compared with the consensus estimate of a 0.1% uptick, supported by broad-based momentum across the services, production and construction sectors.
In corporate news, Associated British Foods (ABF.L) fell 1.98%, taking a spot amongst the blue-chip index's worst performers, as RBC Capital Markets cut the food processing and retailing company's rating to underperform from sector perform and price target to 18.5 pounds sterling from 20.5 pounds.
"As part of our more cautious view on the European Retailing sector, we see further downside risk to consensus earnings forecasts, mainly due to pressure on ABF's largest business Primark," analysts said. "Although we think a demerger should make ABF more investable in the long run, we think ABF's valuation is full given more limited growth prospects over the next few years."
Meanwhile, Vistry Group (VTY.L) named Adam Daniels as its chief executive officer to succeed Greg Fitzgerald, effective immediately. The homebuilder's shares declined 3.83% at close.
"On the one hand it is good news that Vistry has found and appointed a new CEO, taking away uncertainty around the appointment. However, the appointment appears a little rushed to us: the candidate (Adam Daniels) is internal, and the appointment sees Adam coming in and Greg Fitzgerald leaving with immediate effect. At the time of the FY2025 results in March it was announced Mr Fitzgerald would relinquish the role of chair at the AGM, and remain as CEO until a replacement had been found. We also believe that the market was looking for an external rather than an internal appointment. We expect the share price to be weak as it digests today's news," RBC said in a separate note.