UK Stocks Mixed In Cautious Trade
(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks are turning in a mixed performance on Thursday with investors weighing the Middle East situation and rising oil prices amid a lack of meaningful progress in U.S.-Iran peace talks.
Absence of fresh economic data or corporate news from the domestic front render the mood cautious.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 8.11 points or 0.08% at 10,713.37 nearly half an hour past noon. The index had dropped to 10,664.50 earlier in the day.
JS Sports Fashion is rising more than 3%. Sainsbury (J) is gaining 2.3%. Marks & Spencer, Ithaca Energy, Diploma, Haleon, Diageo, British American Tobacco, Tesco, Coca-Cola HBC and Vodafone Group are up 1.5%-2%.
BP, Associated British Foods, Antofagasta, United Utilities, Centrica, Bunzl, Centrica, National Grid and Glencore are up 1%-1.4%.
Raspberry Pi Holdings shares are soaring 11.5% after the company said second-half volumes were rising and that memory inventories remained sufficient to meet annual targets.
Standard Life, St. James's Place, Rentokil Initial and Kingfisher are declining by 3%-3.7%.
Computacenter, AutoTrader Group, Investec, Pershing Square Holdings, Aberdeen Group and ICG are down 1.5%-2.7%. Johnson Matthey fell about 1%. The British specialty chemicals and sustainable technologies company said it would commence a share repurchase program to buy back up to a maximum consideration of £200 million common shares.
Rolls-Royce Holdings, BAE Systems, Babcock International, Polar Capital Technology Trust and 3i Group are also notably lower.
Bay Street Likely To Open Lower
Swiss Central Bank Maintains Key Rate
Swiss Franc Slides After SNB Rate Decision
French Stocks Fall As Oil Prices Rise Amid Middle East Tensions
Indian Shares Slump As Brent Tops $105
Norges Bank Hikes Key Rate By 25 Bps; Signals Another Hike
German DAX Falls 0.58% Amid Oil Price Surge, Middle East Tensions
