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UK stocks opened relatively flat on Monday, with US markets to be closed for Fourth of July celebrations, though a bidding war for Morrisons sent its shares on another surge.
At 0819, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was up just 3.56 points at 7,126.83.
Supermarket group Morrisons rallied 11% to 267.18p after Apollo Global Management said it was considering making a rival bid for the company, which has already endorsed a £6.3 billion offer led by Fortress.
Fortress, owned by Japan's Softbank, teamed up with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Koch Real Estate Investments to offer 254p per share, trumping an initial 230p offer from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.
Apollo hasn't said it how much it might bid for Morrisons.
Miner and commodities trader Glencore gained 0.9% to 317.95p on announcing that chairman Tony Hayward would retire at the end of July, and be replaced by Kalidas Madhavpeddi.
Madhavpeddi joined the board of Glencore in February 2020 and was a previous chief executive of China Molybdenum International.
Defence contractor Ultra Electronics firmed 1.9% to £23.4516 after it said trading in the first half had been ahead of its expectations.
Ultra, in a trading update for the six months through 2 July, said its order book continued to grow and was significantly ahead of last year.
Music rights investor Hipgnosis Songs Fund fell 0.5% to 121.8p, even as it booked a 7.3% rise in annual profit after it boosted royalty income from a rapidly expanding song catalogue.
Hipgnosis Songs declared total dividends for the year of 5.125p per share and upped its annual dividend target 5% to 5.25p per share.
Franchising group Franchise Brands added 1.0% to 152p on announcing that it expected to report annual results 'at least' in line with market expectations.
Sales at the company's Metro Rod drainage services unit, it said, had returned to pre-Covid growth levels in the first half.
Data management group Restore climbed 4.0% to 406.75p, having confirmed that it would reinstated its dividend for the first half, following a strong second quarter.
Restore said trading continued to strengthen through the first half, with second-quarter performance ahead of its previous expectations.
Technology services group The Panoply rose 6.6% to 301p, despite posting a full-year loss after a 62% jump in revenue was more than offset by expenses.
The Panoply, howver, upgraded guidance for the current financial year, saying it expected revenue and operating earnings to be significantly' ahead of current market forecasts.