London open: FTSE steady but HSBC falls on Madoff hit
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Monday 27 Oct 2025
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were steady in early trade on Monday at the start of what promises to be a busy week, amid hopes of a trade deal between the US and China.
At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was flat at 9,644.60.
US president Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping are due to meet in South Korea on Thursday to discuss trade matters.
On Sunday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with NBC: "I believe that we have the framework for the two leaders to have a very productive meeting for both sides."
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Global markets are kicking off the week in upbeat fashion as geopolitics takes centre stage, with trade optimism giving investors something to cheer about. The UK joined the positive trend, though the celebrations are a little more restrained - a familiar pattern as London has been less sensitive to US-China trade headlines than other regions.
"US futures point to a strong open this morning, driven by fresh optimism around a potential US-China trade deal after officials signalled progress over the weekend. That upbeat tone follows a week where stocks closed at record highs, helped by inflation coming in softer than expected - a sign that borrowing costs could start to ease over time.
"Lower inflation reduces pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates high, which is generally supportive for growth. While markets seem confident about the direction of policy, investors would do well to remember that timing is rarely a certainty, and past forecasts have often missed the mark."
Looking ahead to the rest of the week, policy announcements are due from the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, while earnings from US tech heavyweights will also be in focus, with the likes of Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta all slated to report.
In UK equity markets, HSBC fell after saying it will take a $1.1bn impairment charge in its third-quarter results after losing an appeal in a long-standing lawsuit in Luxembourg related to Bernard Madoff's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.
HSBC Securities Services Luxembourg is defending a claim brought by Herald Fund SPC for the restitution of securities and cash, but was denied an appeal in respect of the securities restitution claim.
The $1.1bn provision, which was announced just one day before its quarterly results, will also dent the bank's CET1 capital ratio by 15 basis points.
Britzman said: "This looks like a big number in isolation, but at roughly 0.5% of HSBC's market value, the group is large enough to absorb the hit and move on from the legacy issue."
On the upside, heavily-weighted miners were among the best performers on the FTSE 100 amid rising copper prices, with Glencore, Antofagasta and Anglo American all up.
Goodwin shot higher as the engineering firm said it expected to at least double annual profits on the back of a strong order book and that it would also pay a special one-off interim dividend of 532p a share.
Elsewhere, Trustpilot rallied after an initiation at 'outperform' by RBC Capital Markets.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,644.60 -0.01%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,518.68 -0.05%
techMARK (TASX) 5,594.29 0.17%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Glencore (GLEN) 352.20p 1.78%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,717.00p 1.53%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,903.00p 1.40%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,149.50p 1.32%
Barclays (BARC) 392.80p 1.16%
Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 42.42p 1.13%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,990.00p 1.08%
GSK (GSK) 1,636.00p 0.99%
Next (NXT) 13,565.00p 0.97%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,130.00p 0.80%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 18,510.00p -1.88%
Centrica (CNA) 176.50p -1.56%
Fresnillo (FRES) 2,184.00p -1.27%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 991.30p -1.26%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,260.00p -1.10%
Diageo (DGE) 1,792.00p -1.05%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 405.90p -0.85%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,213.50p -0.74%
SSE (SSE) 1,889.00p -0.74%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 645.50p -0.69%
FTSE 250 - Risers
AO World (AO.) 110.20p 4.55%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 220.80p 3.27%
W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 95.20p 3.03%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 624.00p 2.46%
Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 459.00p 2.00%
Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 210.00p 1.69%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 261.00p 1.56%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 665.00p 1.53%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 526.00p 1.35%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 696.00p 1.31%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Helios Towers (HTWS) 140.40p -4.10%
Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 729.00p -2.61%
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 140.80p -1.81%
C&C Group (CDI) (CCR) 136.80p -1.72%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 241.90p -1.63%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 3,132.00p -1.45%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 649.50p -1.37%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 343.20p -1.32%
Hays (HAS) 60.65p -1.30%
BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC) 1,344.00p -1.18%
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