(Reuters) -British stocks climbed on Monday, with heavyweight healthcare and consumer companies leading gains, putting the blue-chip FTSE 100 index on track for its eleventh consecutive winning session.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.4% while the midcap FTSE 250 gained 0.7% by 1018 GMT.
Healthcare stocks emerged as the top performers, with Hikma Pharmaceuticals, GSK, and Oxford Nano each advancing more than 1%.
Consumer companies rose over 1% across both indexes.
Meal delivery firm Deliveroo jumped 17%, leading the gains on the midcap index, after confirming on Friday that it had received a takeover proposal from U.S. peer DoorDash on April 5.
On the data side, confidence among people in Britain about the economy over the next 12 months has fallen to the lowest on record, polling firm Ipsos MORI said on Monday.
On Friday, British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to discuss a potential trade deal, while simultaneously emphasizing that improving business ties with the European Union remains “arguably even more important.”
The British government, which oversees a relatively trade-intensive economy compared to other G20 countries, is seeking to avoid reciprocal U.S. tariffs by negotiating a new economic deal with Washington.
Markets are pricing in a 96% probability that the Bank of England will reduce interest rates by 25 basis points at its upcoming May 8 monetary policy meeting.
Among other stocks, aerospace company Melrose Industries rose 2.6% after Kepler Cheuvreux upgraded it to “Buy” from “Hold”, The stock was among the top performers on the FTSE 100.
(Reporting by Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)
