The FTSE 100 opened 36.43 points lower at 10,796.43 as slowing UK GDP growth and tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz weighed on sentiment, even as a stronger-than-expected June reading offered some support. Brent crude futures fell 0.44% to $88.59 per barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) declined 0.59% to $82.78 per barrel.
Sterling fell to $1.3494 on Thursday morning, from $1.3507 at London equities close on Wednesday. Versus the euro, it was steady at €1.1704.
On the upside, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust climbed 2.07% to 1,455p. Entain advanced 1.71% to 569.60p, while Spirax Group gained 1.66% to 7,335p. Lion Finance Group rose 1.65% to 12,930p, Aviva added 1.39% to 713.80p, and Smith & Nephew increased 1.33% to 1,108p.
On the downside, Antofagasta fell 5.14% to 3,822p. Rio Tinto declined 4.80% to 7,164p, while Fresnillo dropped 4.44% to 2,882p. Endeavour Mining lost 3.62% to 4,133p, Anglo American slipped 3.01% to 3,936p, and London Stock Exchange Group fell 1.90% to 8,586p.
Shares in Antofagasta dipped about 5% in early trading after the miner cut its 2026 copper output forecast, even as high copper prices drove a 27% increase in first-half core earnings.
EBITDA for the six months rose to $2.84 billion from $2.23 billion a year earlier, with the EBITDA margin up 5 percentage points to 63.4%.
Revenue rose 18% year-over-year to $4.48 billion, while profit before tax climbed 72% to $1.99 billion.
The economy grew 0.4% in the second quarter, down from 0.6% in the first, a decent result for a three-month stretch that included a war in Iran and all the energy crisis.
June performed better rising 0.3% when economists predicted a flat month. Services carried the quarter, with information and communication up 2.7% and computer programming up 3.7%, so the tech end of the economy is clearly still busy.
PensionBee reported strong revenue growth in the first six months of the year after a rise in awareness to save for retirement.
The digital pensions provider posted a 40% jump in revenue to £26.4 million. Meanwhile, assets under administration (AUA) topped £8.6 billion, a 37% increase from the prior period.
Gross inflows reached £493 million, boosted by contributions from new and existing customers. Customer numbers grew 14% to 327,000 in the first half of the year.
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In US, the S&P 500 rose 0.26% to end at 7,748.50, driven by the US inflation report and tech gains. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.54% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average settled at 53,770.27, slipping 0.04%.
In Asia on Thursday, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 1.16% to 68,308.59, while China’s Shanghai Composite dipped 0.5%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.29%, and South Korea’s Kospi edged higher by 3.56%. In India, both the Nifty 50 and the Sensex fell by 0.23% and 0.088%, respectively.
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