18th Jul 2025 12:06
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in Europe were largely higher at midday on Friday, though the FTSE 100 pared some earlier gains as a slump from GSK weighed on the index.
The FTSE 100 index was up just 4.95 points at 8,977.59. The FTSE 250 gained 109.90 points, 0.5%, at 21,876.33, and the AIM All-Share climbed 2.54 points, 0.3%, at 771.47.
The Cboe UK 100 was down slightly at 0.1% at 895.60, the Cboe UK 250 climbed 0.4% at 19,241.91, and the Cboe Small Companies was 0.2% higher at 17,553.07.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was flat after paring earlier gains.
"The FTSE 100 is the ultimate tease, once again flirting above the 9,000 level before taking a step back," said AJ Bell analyst Dan Coatsworth.
"What really matters is that the UK stock market is strutting its stuff and continuing to press ahead. It joined the rest of Europe by basking in the sun and trading higher than the previous day."
The pound was higher at USD1.3445 at midday on Friday in London, compared to USD1.3414 at the equities close on Thursday. The euro stood at USD1.1550, marginally down from USD1.1594. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY148.58, higher compared to JPY148.48.
Stocks in New York were called to open flat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite were all called to open a touch higher.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.44%, narrowing slightly from 4.45%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 5.00%, widening from 4.99%.
In London, GSK was the worst performer on the FTSE 100 index, sinking 6.4%.
The US Food & Drug Administration Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted against the overall benefit/risk profile at the proposed dosage of Blenrep combinations.
Blenrep, also known as belantamab mafodotin, is a treatment for adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer.
The FDA will consider the recommendation of the committee and will decide by next week Wednesday.
"There is always a high risk with drug developments and pharmaceutical companies are no strangers to setbacks. However, Blenrep was particularly important to GSK, with analysts forecasting peak annual sales in the region of GBP2.9 billion and the drug had one of the highest probabilities of approval in its pipeline," said AJ Bell's Coatsworth.
"This situation, along with the prospect of new tariffs on drugs imported into the US, means GSK is suddenly on the sick bed. GSK has lost nearly a tenth of its market value in the past eight days, which is worrying for a company of its stature."
Barclays dropped 1.1%. Citigroup cut Barclays to 'neutral' with a price target of 366 pence.
BP rose 1.5%.
The oil major said it has agreed a deal to sell its US onshore wind business, BP Wind Energy North America, to North American energy infrastructure developer LS Power.
It did not disclose financial details of the transaction. Last week, BP sold a bundle of assets including 300 Dutch retail sites to Catom.
"These are only small assets in the grand scheme of things, and it will take a lot more, particularly on a larger scale, to truly win back the market's favour," Coatsworth noted.
Among FTSE 250 firms, Softcat was the worst performer, down 5.2%.
The provider of IT infrastructure products and services was based on 'negative catalyst watch' by JPMorgan.
The bank said consensus for financial 2026 could see downside if one-off large deals in financial 2025 do not repeat. It said it sees a risk that guidance for 2026 could crystallise this downside.
"Our discussions with investors also suggest to us that this risk is not reflected within buyside expectations to a material extent. Softcat's elevated relative valuation would similarly indicate that expectations are high, given recent earnings upgrades," JPMorgan analysts said.
Ocado was the best FTSE 250 performer, and shot up 12%, as it continued to rise after Thursday's results.
It said group revenue improved 13% on a pro-forma basis to GBP674.0 million in the first half of June 1, and the grocer and warehouse technology company's pro forma pretax profit amounted to GBP607.3 million, swinging from a GBP144.2 million loss.
Burberry added 7.6%.
The luxury goods maker said it is "in the early stages of our turnaround" and the wider market backdrop is uncertain as it reported that its sales decline eased during the first quarter.
In the first quarter ended June 28, retail revenue declined around 5.5% on-year to GBP433 million from GBP458 million. At constant exchange rates, it fell 2%.
Comparable store sales fell 1%, easing from the 6% fall suffered in the fourth quarter of the prior financial year. Bloomberg reported that for the quarter just ended, a 3.7% drop was expected by analysts.
In small caps, Cap-XX gained 8.7%.
The maker of small-scale capacitors and energy management systems said progress in its cooperation agreement with Schurter is "delivering strong momentum".
It said the potential pipeline revenue is approaching USD2 million from prismatic supercapacitor volumes.
GSTechnologies declined 11%.
The fintech company issued an arbitration notice against the sellers of Semnet, which it previously bought a 67% stake in.
It said that the sellers "have acted in breach of their non-complete undertakings owed to the company" and were in breach of their obligations to Semnet as employees. The company said if it wins the arbitration, it expects a recovery of profits for Semnet.
Brent oil climbed to USD70.02 a barrel at midday in London on Friday from USD68.94 late Thursday. Gold was higher at USD3,351.20 an ounce against USD3,338.20.
Still to come on Friday is the Michigan consumer sentiment index in the US at 1500 BST.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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