(Reuters) -UK’s FTSE 100 closed higher on Monday, with conglomerate Melrose topping the index following an upbeat trading update, while domestically-focussed midcaps closed lower as caution prevailed ahead of an inflation report due later in the week.
The export-heavy FTSE 100 index rose 0.57% to a near one-week high, buttressed by a 3.2% jump in precious metal miners as bullion prices rebounded. [GOL/]
Melrose Industries rose 7.6% to levels last seen more than three months ago, after the owner of aerospace parts maker GKN Aerospace reported a jump in revenue over the past four months and said it expects to deliver a surge in free cash flow in 2025.
“Historically, Melrose bought up industrial businesses and executed a buy, improve, sell model – investors will hope the ‘improve’ bit has been retained,” Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said.
The midcap FTSE 250 that includes more domestically exposed…
