2nd Oct 2025 09:15
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were mixed on Thursday as the FTSE 100 lost early gains after extending its intra-day record, amid concerns about the ongoing shutdown of the US government and delays to data releases.
The FTSE 100 index opened down 10.69 points, 0.1%, at 9,435.74. The FTSE 250 was up 25.17 points, 0.1%, at 22,074.33, and the AIM All-Share was up 3.95 points, 0.5%, at 790.36.
Earlier on Wednesday, the blue-chip index hit a new intra-day high of 9,474.59 points. The index of London large-caps closed up 1.0% at 9,446.43 on Wednesday, beating its previous record close from Tuesday.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.3% at 943.88, the Cboe UK 250 was 0.3% higher at 19,335.26, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.2% at 17,723.49.
In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris was 0.8% higher, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.7%.
Efforts to swiftly end the US government shutdown collapsed overnight as Democrats in Congress went home without resolving an acrimonious funding stand-off with President Donald Trump and the White House threatened public sector jobs.
With the Senate now adjourned until Friday, hopes for a quick resolution have been frustrated. Around 750,000 federal employees are expected to be placed on furlough – a kind of enforced leave, with pay withheld until they return to work.
US weekly jobless claims figures and factory orders figures which had been scheduled for release will not be published due to the shutdown.
Sterling was at USD1.3498, up from USD1.3477 at the London equities close on Wednesday. The euro traded at USD1.1756, up from USD1.1729 late Wednesday. Against the yen, the dollar was down at JPY147.03 versus JPY147.15.
In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 0.9%. In China, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong finished up 1.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney gained 1.1%.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.1%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.4% higher.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury narrowed to 4.11% on Thursday from 4.13% on Wednesday. The yield on the 30-year was unchanged at 4.72%.
In London, 3i Group led the FTSE 100 and gained 3.2%.
UBS raised the private equity and venture capital company to 'buy' from 'neutral', and upped its price target to 4,700 pence from 4,450p.
ICG was up 2.9%.
The private equity investment firm increased its medium term guidance for performance fees and fund management company operating margin.
It now expects performance fees to represent between 10% and 20% of total fee income, up from between 10% and 15% previously. It expects the FMS operating margin to be in excess of 54%, from 52% previously.
The company is changing the way it recognises performance fee revenue in financial statements. This will result in a one-off gain of between GBP65 million and GBP75 million in its results for the first half of the year.
Tesco gained 2.3% after it released results for the first half of the year and raised its guidance.
Pretax profit fell 6.3% to GBP1.31 billion in the 26 weeks to August 23 from GBP1.39 billion a year ago. Revenue climbed 3.6% to GBP36.04 billion from GBP34.77 billion.
Adjusted operating profit rose 1.5% to GBP1.67 billion from GBP1.65 billion while adjusted diluted earnings per share jumped 6.8% to 15.43 pence from 14.45p.
The food retailer declared an interim dividend of 4.80p per share, up 13% from 4.25p per share a year ago.
The company now expects full year adjusted operating profit between GBP2.9 billion and GBP3.1 billion, up from the previous range between GBP2.7 billion and GBP3.0 billion as it said the customer response to its actions has been "better-than-expected".
"I am pleased with our first half performance, which builds on already strong momentum. Our market share gains in the UK are a particular highlight and reflect the decisive action we took at the start of the year to further invest in value, quality and service," said Chief Executive Ken Murphy.
SSE fell 1.6%.
The electricity generator said it expects to report half-year adjusted earnings per share between 33p and 37p, in line with usual seasonal averages.
It left its expectations for the full year unchanged and said it is on track to deliver adjusted earnings per share between 175p and 200p in financial 2027.
"Strong renewables operational availability over the summer months was offset by unfavourable weather conditions - notably across April and May - with first half output expected to be around 2% lower than the same period last year," the company noted.
Morgan Sindall jumped 11% and made the biggest gains on the FTSE 250 index.
The construction firm expects its full year results to be "significantly ahead" of previous expectations as the performance of its Fit Out division continues to strengthen.
It said the secured order book for its Fit Out division at the end of August was GBP1.6 billion, of which GBP900 million relates to 2026 and beyond, an 8% increase on the position six and twelve months previously.
The overall order book for the group was GBP12.2 billion at the end of August, up 2% from the half year and 7% from the end of the 2024 financial year.
On the AIM market, Jadestone Energy climbed 4.3%.
Berenberg started coverage of the upstream production and development company with a 'buy' rating and a price target of 68p.
On Tuesday, it swung to a pretax profit of USD38.1 million in the first half of 2025, from a loss of USD29.1 million a year earlier. Revenue increased to USD228.3 million from USD185.1 million.
UK Oil & Gas sank 29% on Thursday morning, after the share price multiplied on Wednesday.
The firm said it has raised gross proceeds of GBP3 million through a placing of new shares at 0.03p each.
The funding will be used to complete engineering concept and design studies for the collaboration between subsidiary UK Energy Storage and National Gas.
Gold was higher at USD3,867.90 an ounce early on Thursday from USD3,862.37 late Wednesday. Brent oil was trading lower at USD65.45 a barrel from USD65.53.
Thursday's global economic calendar has eurozone unemployment data at 1000 BST.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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