FTSE 100 Modestly Lower In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - The UK market's benchmark index FTSE 100, which recovered some ground after an early fall, remained in negative territory at noon on Thursday with investors staying reluctant to pick up stocks amid worries about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The FTSE 100 was down 33.17 points or 0.32% at 10,482.75 a few minutes before noon.

Diploma moved up 5.3%. Weir Group gained 3.7% and Spirax Group climbed 3.1%. IMI, Metlen Energy & Metals, Kingfisher, Smiths Group, Halma and Bunzl gained 1%-2.2%.

St. James's Place fell 5.5%. Experian lost about 3.1%. The credit data and technology company maintained its full-year outlook.

BHP shed about 3% after reporting a 5% drop in fourth-quarter copper production.

Technology and online grocery group Ocado slumped 19% after it confirmed further delays to two fulfilment centers under development.

Centrica dropped 2.5%. Compass Group, Admiral Group, SSE, National Grid, Hiscox, Smith & Nephew, Convatec Group, Rio Tinto, Relx, Polar Capital Technology Trust, JD Sports Fashion, Games Workshop and Prudential lost 1%-1.7%.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed the UK economy expanded slightly in May driven by the service sector output. Gross domestic product grew 0.1%, offsetting a 0.1% fall in April, which was the first drop since October 2025. GDP was forecast to remain flat in May.

Services output rose 0.3% compared to a 0.1% fall in April. Partially offsetting this gain, industrial output declined 0.5%, following a 0.2% rise in April. Within industrial output, manufacturing edged up 0.1%.

At the same time, construction output shrank 0.8% after a 0.1% decrease in April.

On a yearly basis, GDP advanced 1.3% in May.

In three months to May, GDP grew 0.7%, following a growth of 0.8% in the three months to April. The economy expanded 1.1% from the same period last year.

Another data from ONS showed that the visible trade gap narrowed to four-month low of GBP 18.66 billion in May from GBP 24.58 billion in April. At the same time, the surplus on services trade rose slightly to GBP 17.6 billion from GBP 17.5 billion in the previous month.