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UK stocks opened higher Monday, led by a rise in telecoms as sentiment on the sector was boosted by deal making activity following KKR's more than €33 billion offer to take Telecom Italia private.
At 09:03, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 26.00 points, or 0.36%, 26 points to 7,249.57. BT Group was up more than 3%, while Vodafone was up more than 1%.
Investors also digested the latest updates from companies including BHP, which completed its merger deal with Woodside.
Mining giant BHP rose nearly 1% after it agreed to merge its oil and gas portfolio with Woodside to create a global energy company that would be listed on the ASX.
In a separate announcement, BHP said it had approved US$1.5 billion in capital expenditure for development of the Scarborough upstream project located in the North Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia.
Technical products and services business Diploma hiked its dividend after reporting a jump in annual profit, driven by a boost from acquisitions including Windy City Wire. Its shares were up 4.8% to £33.58.
Cinema group Everyman Media climbed 2% to 145 pence after upgrading its outlook on performance following better-than-expected admissions in the first half of the year.
SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust was flat at 116.4 pence after announced an investment of approximately $21 million in an operational portfolio of LED lighting projects in the United States, together with a 50% stake in Future Energy Solutions Lighting, the business that developed the projects.
Customer relationship management software company Cerillion rose 3.7% 897 pence after reporting annual profit that more doubled as new business wins bolstered performance.
Customer engagement software company Pelatro fell 1.8% 37.3 pence said it had won a contract worth about $1 million from an unnamed African telco to provide its mViva campaign management solution.