The FTSE 100 opened slightly lower, trading at 10,573 down 17 points. The broader market remains cautious as focus shifts to US-Iran peace talks. Brent crude fell 1% to $98.43 a barrel. WTI futures are 1.4% lower at $89.89 a barrel.
Sterling was quoted at $1.3517 early Friday, lower than $1.3532 at yesterday’s close. Against the euro, sterling fell to EUR1.1474.
In early trade, the biggest gainer was Intertek Group, which rose 2.55% to £4,876, while Sage Group advanced 2.19% to £922.80 and Standard Life gained 1.75% to £755.60.
RELX jumped 1.56% to £2,742, and BAE Systems surged 1.40% to £2,247.50, while Burberry Group rose 1.36% to £1,136.40.
On the downside, Workspace Group’s shares plunged 15% to £318 after the London flexible landlord warned there would be a sharp drop in profitability for the year ahead. Total rent roll fell 1.4% to £127.3 million in Q4, with rent per square foot down to £41.96, though occupancy rose to 79.4%.
CEO Charlie Green, barely two months into the job, said the business needs meaningful investment to reposition itself for startups and small businesses.
Among others, SSE declined 5.12% to £2,509, while Antofagasta fell 3.42% to £3,641 and Anglo American gained 3.03% to £3,490.
Also, Endeavour Mining dipped 2.24% to £4,717, and Fresnillo declined 2.34% to £3,470.
Netflix shares plunged 9.6% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the company said co-founder and Chair Reed Hastings will step down in June.
This comes after the streaming giant reported strong earnings, with its $1.23 per share above the earlier expectations of $0.76. Revenue rose 16% year-on-year to $12.3 billion.
Next boss Simon Wolfson took home a £7.4 million pay packet last year. This pay could be beaten to £9.3 million if growth targets are met.
Wolfson’s total pay rose from £4.9 million the year before, as he took £967,000 in basic pay and over £6 million in bonuses.
In the US, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both hit fresh record closes. The Nasdaq rose 0.4%, the S&P 500 added 0.3%, and the Dow gained 0.2%.
In Asia, the Kospi dipped 0.3% to 6,204.3 points, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.9%. In China, the CSI 300 backed 0.09%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.2% while Shanghai’s Composite fell 0.1%. India managed to hold the losses with both Sensex and Nifty 50 rising 0.2% respectively.
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