European markets open flat ahead of Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the U.S.

HSBC shares are off to a strong start this week and are currently trading at a 17-year high on an intraday basis.

The lender’s London-listed A-shares rose to £8.286 after the stock market opened, its highest level since Nov. 2 2007.

And it’s not the only bank notching highs this morning.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 and Germany’s DAX indexes were marginally higher on Monday morning, after hitting an all-time high on Friday.

The FTSE was 0.08% higher, the DAX was 0.04% in the green and the French CAC was up 0.1%.

Spain’s Ibex was also slightly higher, but Italy’s FTSE Mib fell by 0.36% by 10:16 a.m. London time.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 slipped 0.04%.

— Ganesh Rao

Judges Scientific, a conglomerate holding several U.K.-based scientific instruments manufacturers, reported an annual decline in revenue in 2024 in a trading update out Monday.

The company said organic revenues fell 5.8% in 2024 compared to the previous year.

Founded in 2002 by CEO David Cicurel, the business now has a large retail investor following after raising its dividend payout annually over the past 17 years.

“The operational leverage in the business means that the small decline in organic revenue has a large impact on profitability,” the firm said in a stock market filing. It’s expected to unveil its full-year results on March 19.

“Other headwinds affected our businesses to varying degrees, including a large reduction in orders from China, together with a general weakness in order intake and some customers delaying orders and deliveries,” the company added.

Analysts at investment bank Jefferies had downgraded the stock ahead of the filing to “Hold” saying they see “clear short-term vulnerability due to the difficult trading backdrop”.

“On a longer-term view, we continue to see Judges as one of the highest-quality names in our coverage – the unique operating model and strategy has resulted in sector leadership on a range of financial metrics, which should continue as end markets recover – and there is plenty of scope for an ongoing stream of attractive M&A,” the Jefferies analysts added.

— Ganesh Rao

South Korea’s finance ministry pledged to provide a record  360 trillion won ($247.74 billion) of financial support to its exporters as Donald Trump is set to begin his second term as president.

The ministry also announced it will increase its exchange rate insurance support to 1.4 trillion won this year, up from 1.2 trillion won in 2024.

The statement added that semiconductors and rechargeable batteries were among sectors more at risk from potential new U.S. policies.

— Lee Ying Shan

China left its benchmark lending rates unchanged Monday, as Beijing contends with a weakening yuan while awaiting policy clues from the incoming Donald Trump administration.

The People’s Bank of China held the 1-year loan prime rate at 3.1%, and the 5-year LPR at 3.6%, according to the PBOC statement.

The 1-year LPR determines rates on corporate and most household loans, while the 5-year LPR acts as a reference for mortgage loans.

Read the full story here.

— Anniek Bao

European markets are expected to open in mixed territory on Monday.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 12 points lower at 8,493, Germany’s DAX up 3 points at 20,897, France’s CAC up 6 points at 7,720 and Italy’s FTSE MIB up 21 points at 36,351, according to data from IG.

There are no major earnings or data releases Monday.

— Holly Ellyatt