FTSE 100 Falls 453 Points To 10,710 After Bank Of England Holds Interest Rates, Brent Hits USD 102.5

The FTSE 100 opened 45.03 points lower at 10,771.11 after the Bank of England held interest rates while signaling a more hawkish outlook, with investors also digesting the Bank of Japan's latest rate increase. Brent crude futures fell 2.05% to USD 102.5 per barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) declined 1.89% to USD 99.98 per barrel. 

Sterling was quoted at USD 1.3363 early Friday, marginally higher than USD 1.3356 at the London equities close on Thursday. Against the euro, sterling rose to EUR 1.1638 from EUR 1.1627 a day prior.

Gainers & Losers

On the upside, Fresnillo climbed 2.70% to 3,085p. IG Group Holdings advanced 2.21% to 1,344p, while Endeavour Mining gained 2.20% to 4,777p. Lion Finance Group rose 2.17% to 14,120p, Antofagasta added 1.35% to 3,752p, and Polar Capital Technology Trust increased 1.14% to 664.50p.

On the downside, Coca-Cola HBC fell 3.86% to 4,432p, while Next declined 2.51% to 14,545p. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners dropped 1.25% to 7,505p, Shell slipped 1.13% to 3,530.50p, London Stock Exchange Group lost 0.56% to 8,216p, and Games Workshop Group edged 0.51% lower to 17,670p.

BoE Held Interest Rates

On Thursday, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee voted 6-3 to leave Bank Rate unchanged at 3.75%, repeating July's split, with Huw Pill, Megan Greene and Catherine Mann again favouring a 25 basis point increase.

BoE paused all gilt sales until April 2027 and removed bonds maturing after 2049, around GBP 120 billion, from active sales, while exploring a mechanism to transfer gilts directly to the UK government treasury, replacing long-dated supply with shorter issuance. 

Retail Sales Jump

Retail sales rose in August as the warmer weather helped boost consumer sentiment despite rising energy prices. The Office for National Statistics said on Friday that the total volume of goods sold in-store and online rose 0.5%, reversing an earlier 0.5% decline in July. 

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.2% drop in sales volumes compared with July.

The warm weather fueled sales of items such as fans and air conditioning units, while the World Cup delivered a boost in the sale of sports merchandise and clothing, the ONS said.

Investec Doubled its Earnings Target

Investec has doubled down on its earnings targets after a surge in activity in its South Africa division helped offset a subdued performance in the UK.

In the six months to 30 September, the lender projected an earnings per share range between 41.7p and 43.3p, a 3% to 7% rise on the previous year.

The growth projection was largely fueled by its South African business, where funds under management in its wealth business increased 13.8% to GBP 30.7 billion. In contrast, the UK business is expecting operating profit to fall between 2% and 6% from the GBP 230 million recorded last year. 

Also Read: Stock Market Update: Nifty 50 Opened 64.1 Points Higher, Sensex Climbed 260.5 Points Amid Drop in Oil Prices

Global Market View

In the US, Wall Street rebounded overnight as government bond yields retreated. The S&P 500 gained 1.2%, the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.7% and the Dow Jones added 0.6%, or 316 points.

In Asia on Friday, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 1.38% to 65,018.95, while China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.94%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.56%, and South Korea’s Kospi edged up by 2.66%. In India, both the Nifty 50 and the Sensex rose by 0.25% and 0.28%, respectively.