UK Equities Start Week in Green; NatWest Kicks Off Share Buyback

London shares started the new week on a high note, with the FTSE 100 rallying 0.26% in closing trade, while US markets took a day off for President’s Day.

On the economic calendar, labor data is due Tuesday, followed by the inflation numbers on Wednesday, the industrial trends report on Thursday, and the retail sales and PMI data on Friday.

“We expect inflation to fall from 3.4% to 3.0% in January,” said BofA Global Research. “We look for core inflation to fall from 3.2% to 3.0%. Services inflation should fall from 4.5% to 4.2%. The u-rate should be flat at 5.1% in three months to December. We forecast private regular wage growth to slow from 3.6% to 3.4%. We expect payrolls to fall by 20K in January and the drop in December payrolls to be revised slightly upwards as budget uncertainty fades.”

In corporate news, NatWest Group (NWG.L) soared 4.76% to the top of the blue-chip index on Monday’s close after starting its share buyback program of up to 750 million pounds sterling. The lender’s rating was also upgraded to add from reduce by AlphaValue/Baader Europe based on the lender’s updated guidance.

“We have updated our model following the release of the group’s full year results and the announcement of the acquisition of Evelyn Partners,” analysts said. “The upgrades [in 2027] have been driven by increased fee income (+20%, largely related to Evelyn), and ongoing [efficiency] gains (-1% despite the integration of Evelyn), whereas we have kept our cost of risk unchanged.”

On the contrary, Barratt Redrow (BTRW.L) dropped 3.86% after Deutsche Bank Research reduced the residential developer’s price target to 4.54 pounds from 5.36 pounds, with a buy rating, and cut its financial estimates.

“Barratt’s H1 results were broadly in line with expectations. However, tough trading through H1 has put pressure on margins and the order book, and we are reducing FY26/27/28 underlying [profit before tax] forecasts by 9/6/7%,” analysts said. “Based on management targets for outlet growth, alongside improving margins, Barratt should show above average profit growth over the next few years.”