FTSE 100 Down 0.4%; Banks, Airlines Stocks Lose Ground

(RTTNews) - The UK stock market is down in negative territory around early afternoon on Thursday, weighed down largely by losses in the banking sector. Travel-related stocks are weak as well, amid rising concerns about growth due to deepening tensions in the Middle East.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 40.10 points or 0.39% at 10,313.67 a few minutes ago.

HSBC Holdings is down more than 6%. Barclays is down 3.1% and Standard Chartered is declining by about 2.8%, while Lloyds Banking Group is lower by about 2.3% and Natwest Bank is losing 1.4%.

Persimmon, which had a few strong outings earlier this week, is down 3.6%. Aviation stocks Easyjet and IAG are down 3.3% and 3%, respectively, weighed down by higher fuel prices.

M&G is down nearly 3%. M&G reported full year 2025 IFRS profit after tax of 314 million pounds compared to a loss of 347 million pounds, prior year, mainly driven by improved short-term fluctuations in investment returns and reduced mismatches arising on application of IFRS 17.

Schroders, LondonMetric Property, Tritax Big Box REIT, Segro, Diageo, Barratt Redrow, Antofagasta and Informa are also notably lower.

Shares of travel operator On the Beach Group are down nearly 10% after the company withdrew its guidance due to Middle East-related travel market disruption.

Rentokil Initial is climbing up more than 4%. BAE Systems is rising 3.1%, while Airtel Africa, Babcock International, Haleon, Sainsbury (J), Pearson, Bunzl, Tesco, SSE, The Sage Group, Rio Tinto, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Glencore and Games Workshop are gaining 1%-2.3%.

UK housing market confidence remained fragile and forward-looking sentiment turned more cautious amid the escalation of conflict in the Middle East, the Residential Market Survey results from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed. The headline house price balance fell unexpectedly to -12% from -10% in January. The balance was expected to improve to -9%.