5th Mar 2026 08:59
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened lower on Thursday, on a busy day for UK annual results and construction purchasing managers' indices.
The FTSE 100 index opened down 30.06 points, 0.3%, at 10,537.59. The FTSE 250 was down 86.77 points, 0.4%, at 22,809.90, and the AIM all-share was down 3.14 points, 0.4%, at 791.42.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.1% at 1,048.98, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.3% at 20,061.32, and the Cboe small companies was down 0.1% at 18,001.85.
Rentokil led the FTSE 100 by a considerable margin, climbing 8.9%.
The pest control firm's pretax profit fell to USD390 million in 2025, but revenue rose to USD6.91 billion and Rentokil increased the final dividend by 4.6% to 8.24 cents. It said it expects this year's results to be in line with market expectations.
easyJet led the laggers, falling 4.1%, as the Middle East conflict continues. International Consolidated Airlines was not far behind, losing 2.8%.
On the FTSE 250, PageGroup plummeted 18%.
The recruitment firm slashed its full-year final dividend to 3.21 pence from 11.75p the year before, while pretax profit fell to GBP16.2 million from GBP49.1 million.
Additionally, PageGroup said that while it was confident in its strategy, the "market outlook remains uncertain".
In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.6%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.5%.
The pound was quoted lower at USD1.3326 early on Thursday in London, compared to USD1.3365 at the equities close on Wednesday. The euro stood lower at USD1.1597, against USD1.1634. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at JPY157.23 compared to JPY157.01.
In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 1.9%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.4%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.4%.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.5%, the S&P 500 up 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.3%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.12%, widening from 4.07%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.76%, widening from 4.71%.
Brent oil was quoted higher at USD83.69 a barrel early in London on Thursday from USD80.75 late Wednesday.
Gold was quoted higher at USD5,166.46 an ounce against USD5,142.25.
Still to come on Thursday's economic calendar, is the construction PMI from the UK. Also, the eurozone has retail sales and the UK has new car sales data.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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