FTSE 100 Drifts Lower As Pharma Stocks Shed Ground

(RTTNews) - The UK stock market's benchmark index FTSE 100 drifted lower on Tuesday, weighed down by sharp losses in the healthcare sector and weakness in a couple of bank stocks.

The downside was limited thanks to hopes U.S. and Iran will strike a peace deal following Israel and Iran halting attacks on each other.

The FTSE 100 was down 25.98 points or 0.25% at 10,347.22 a little while ago.

GSK slid 2.7% after the drugmaker agreed to buy U.S.-listed Nuvalent for $10.6 billion.

AstraZeneca drifted down nearly 2% after the company announced that its experimental obesity pill achieved weight reductions of up to 11.8% in a mid stage trial. , Standard Chartered shed about 2.7%. HSBC Holdings lost 1.25%. The Sage Group, Glencore, Mondi, AutoTrader Group and BP lost 1%-1.7%.

Relx fell about 1% after the group announced a £200 million share buyback programme running until June 2026.

Metlen Energy & Metals climbed more than 4%. Bunzl gained 2.7%, while IG Group and Croda International moved up 2.4% and 2.2%, respectively.

Admiral Group, Howden Joinery Group, Barratt Redrow, Airtel Africa, Persimmon, M&G, Lloyds Banking Group, Entain, Natwest Group, Berkeley Group Holdings, Coca-Cola HBC, Kingfisher, JD Sports Fashion, Standard Life and Spirax Group gained 1%-1.8%.

Housebuilder Bellway gained about 3% after maintaining its FY26 profit outlook. Keller Group surged 3% after securing a contract variation order worth $207mn for a flagship U.S. highway reconstruction project.

Shares of scientific technology firm Oxford Instruments slumped more than 6.5% despite reporting full-year results slightly ahead of expectations.

Data from British Retail Consortium showed UK retail sales increased by 3.7% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis in May, exceeding market expectations for a 0.6% gain and marking the strongest growth since April 2025.