Stocks in London made modest progress on Friday as lower oil prices amid hopes of progress in US-Iran negotiations helped offset concerns over another rise in bond yields.
In London, the FTSE 100 index ended up 15.26 points, 0.1%, at 10,695.25. The FTSE 250 rose 106.82 points, 0.4%, to 24,261.14, and the AIM all-share added 1.40 points, 0.2%, at 786.36.
For the week, the FTSE 100 was up 0.3%, the FTSE 250 was up 0.2%, and the AIM all-share was down 1.6%.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down slightly, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt rose 0.6%.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4% at the time of the closing bell in London. The S&P 500 was 0.1% higher, as was the Nasdaq Composite.
Brent oil was quoted at 106.21 dollars a barrel in London on Friday at the time of the equity market close, down from 107.25 dollars late on Thursday on hopes of progress between the US and Iran.
Iran’s foreign minister said it had submitted an offer to Washington that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz to tanker traffic within seven days.
“If certain conditions are met, the strait will be open within seven days and talks will start,” Abbas Araghchi told media outlets on the sidelines of a UN gathering.
But analyst Stephen Innes said while Iran’s seven-day roadmap sounds “fresh enough” on the headline, “once you strip away the packaging it is basically the same [memorandum of understanding] that has been sitting on the table for weeks, only now compressed into a tighter timetable”.
He said this leaves US President Donald Trump with an “awkward” trade.
“He risks taking heavy political fire for returning to a deal critics would portray as too favourable to Iran, without necessarily getting enough immediate relief at the pump to make the concession look worthwhile,” he said.
The pound was quoted at 1.3238 dollars on Friday, up from 1.3214 dollars at the same time on Thursday. Against the euro, sterling ebbed to 1.1616 euros from 1.1628 euros.
A report in the UK offered some encouragement for economic prospects, with consumer confidence continuing its gradual recovery.
GfK’s long-running consumer confidence index rose one point in September, continuing the slow recovery seen since April, but remains firmly in negative territory at minus 13.
It marks the first time since summer 2024 that the index has recorded three consecutive overall monthly increases.
The largest gains this month came from perceptions of the wider economy over the past year – up four points to minus 36 – and personal finances over the same period – up three points to minus three.
The euro rose to 1.1396 dollars from 1.1367 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 157.36 yen, down from 158.98 yen.
After a calmer start to the day, bond yields spiked once more as the trading session headed to the close.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 5.21%, stretched from 5.11%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 5.52%, widened from 5.45%.
Barclays analyst Emmanuel Cau said rates are near levels where buying equities is “no longer a no-brainer”.
He thinks while equities have weathered the storm reasonably well so far, the key question is “where is the breaking point?”.
“With next week looking particularly heavy on the data front, expect some further volatility,” he said.
Mr Cau said one reason why equities have held up relatively well so far, based on recent client conversations, is likely that many remain hopeful of US-Iran de-escalation.
“That would arguably come as a welcome relief to both the bond and equity markets, but remains elusive at this stage. Without tangible progress on that front, markets are likely to stay on edge, until at least the Q3 earnings season, which will be key for equities to reconnect with sound fundamentals,” Mr Cau added.
On the FTSE 100, Computacenter rallied 3.2% after Thursday’s falls when the stock traded ex dividend, while Glencore firmed 2.2% as UBS upgraded to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’.
In the red, oil stocks BP, Shell and Ithaca Energy were down 2.3%, 0.8% and 3.6% respectively, reflecting the lower oil price.
On the FTSE 250, Harworth Group rose 5.1% after Peel Holdings raised its takeover offer to a “best and final” 187 pence per share in cash, valuing the property regeneration company at around £631.7 million.
The new offer is 8.4% above Peel’s previous 177.5p bid and represents a 30% premium to Harworth’s closing share price on August 5, before the offer period began.
At the other end of the mid-cap index, Raspberry Pi Holdings tumbled 5.8%, reversing some of Thursday’s 20% jump.
The stock had rallied after Raspberry Pi said it was well placed for further rapid growth following a record first-half performance driven by strong demand, increased unit shipments and a favourable product mix.
Among smaller caps, Safestay plunged 32% after swinging to a first-half pre-tax loss of £2.1 million from a profit of £436,000 a year earlier.
The hostel operator said the trading environment remained challenging and it continued to be mindful of cost pressures.
Meanwhile, Capricorn Energy jumped 14%, while Genel Energy shares were down 1.8%.
Capricorn Energy, an oil and gas company with operations in Egypt, withdrew its support for its takeover by DNO Bidco, as it instead recommended a higher offer by Genel Energy.
Genel on Friday offered 4.75 dollars in cash plus a special dividend of 99 US cents, valuing Capricorn Energy at 5.74 dollars per share in total, or 436 million dollars.
Gold was quoted at 4,282.86 dollars an ounce, up from 4,252.84 dollars.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Lion Finance Group, up 460.00p at 14,580.00p, Computacenter, up 170.00p at 5,410.00p, Pershing Square Holdings, up 100.00p at 3,722.00p, Standard Chartered, up 56.00p at 2,313.00p and Fresnillo, up 67.00p at 2,890.00p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Ithaca Energy, down 10.60p at 285.40p, BP, down 13.30p at 558.50p, Bunzl, down 50.00p at 2,638.00p, British American Tobacco, down 63.00p at 4,180.00p, and GSK, down 26.00p at 1,851.00p.
Monday’s local corporate calendar has half-year results from Christie Group, Tullow Oil and Likewise Group.
Monday’s global economic calendar sees the start of the Reserve Bank of Australia meeting and the Dallas Fed manufacturing index.
Later in the week, US nonfarm payrolls and euro area inflation data will be released.
Contributed by Alliance News
