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UK stocks opened higher on Monday after Donald Trump's doctors claimed that he could be discharged from hospital as soon as Monday, though the precise details of the US president's medial status remained unclear.
At 0824, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 39.56 points, or 0.7%, at 5,941.68.
Cinema group Cineworld plunged 58% to 16.59p on announcing that it would temporarily suspend operations in the US and UK from 8 October, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cineworld said it would provide guidance for when it might reopen when 'key markets have more concrete guidance on their reopening status and, in turn, studios are able to bring their pipeline of major releases back to the big screen'.
Engineering company Weir rallied 16% to £14.8399, having agreed to sell its oil and gas division to Caterpillar for $405 million (£314 million), including debt.
The move came after Weir announced in February that it was seeking to maximise value from the division, which had been hit by a slump in oil pricing. The company would now focus on the mining sector.
Convenience foods manufacturer Greencore slumped 10% to 91.14p after it guided for lower annual earnings amid a 14% drop in sales.
On a more positive note, Greencore said sales were on an improving trend, though were still down 19% in the fourth quarter year-on-year.
Budget carrier Wizz Air ascended 0.4% to £31.82 despite flying 58.9% less passengers during the month of September year-on-year, as the pandemic continued to put pressure on travel markets.
Self-storage group Big Yellow softened 0.4% to £10.31, even as it secured planning consent for a £52 million facility in Kings Cross, London.
Demolition of the existing site would commence in January and it was expected that the store, which contained a double basement, would open in Spring 2023.
Quality assurance group Intertek fell 0.8% to £63.86 following news that it had appointed Jonathan Timmis, currently chief financial officer of Reckitt Benckiser's healthdivision, as its CFO effective 1 April.
Current CFO Ross McCluskey would be appointed into a new operational role from that date.
Luxury handbag maker Mulberry shed 3.0% to 161p as it posted a deeper annual loss and scrapped its dividend after the Covid-19 crisis worsened existing pressure on sales.
Mulberry said the start of the current financial period was ahead of its early expectations and that it expected its losses to narrow this year.
Shipping company Tufton Oceanic Assets gained 0.8% to 0.85p, having acquired two product tankers for $23 million, bringing its fleet to 18 vessels.
Oil company Independent Oil and Gas was unchanged at 13p after it abandoned a pursuit of Deltic Energy, which had rejected its sweetened takeover approach. Deltic tumbled 22% to 0.9p.
