FTSE 100 opened higher as markets were buoyed by takeover talk surrounding Sainsbury’s, while the oil giants rallied as the price of crude steadied after its recent decline. London’s blue-chip index was up 35 at 7,123 in early trading.
J Sainsbury PLC (LSE:SBRY) (LSE:SBRY) could be the next among the big UK supermarket groups to face bid interest from private equity companies according to reports over the weekend. The US buyout firm Apollo is exploring the possibility of a bid for Sainsbury’s, according to the Sunday Times.
PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL) has launched a new service that allows its UK customers to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency. The service starts rolling out this week and marks the first international expansion of PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL)’s cryptocurrency offering outside of the US, the payment provider said in a statement.
Bitcoin meanwhile jumped above US$50,000 for the first time in three months as the cryptocurrency’s rally continues. Other tokens including Ether and Cardano’s ADA are also rising.
Among the small caps, Filta Group (AIM:FLTA) (LON:FLTA) said it has made a strong start to the financial year. First half revenues at the commercial kitchen cleaning specialist were up 20% compared with the final six months of last year.
Oriole Resources PLC (LSE:ORR, FRA:S1Y) (LSE:ORR, FRA:S1Y) published a maiden resource estimate for the Faré South prospect of the Senala project in Senegal. The resource estimate is 155,000 ounces of gold grading 1.26 grammes (g/t).
Oncimmune Holdings PLC (AIM:ONC, FRA:OCY) (AIM:ONC, FRA:OCY) (LON:ONC) said a three-year follow-up of a large-scale clinical trial involving its EarlyCDT Lung blood test has delivered encouraging results. The number of late-stage cancers and deaths were lower in the group of patients assessed using the company’s diagnostic.