FTSE 100 Down Slightly Before Noon; Intertek Group Soars On Earnings
(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks turned in a mixed performance Tuesday morning with investors reacting to some corporate news and closely following the developments on the geopolitical front.
A drop in oil prices amid hopes Iran and the U.S. will arrive at a peace deal after a second round of negotiations contributed a bit to market's slightly positive undertone.
The FTSE 100, which advanced to 10,632.43 earlier in the session, was down 3.61 points or 0.03% at 10,579.35 a few minutes before noon.
Intertek Group soared 12.5% after launching a strategic review that could see it split its business, while maintaining its annual outlook. The company posted a revenue of GBP 838.5 million in the three month ended March 2026, higher than GBP 808.9 million in the same period last year.
Metlen Energy & Metals, Fresnillo, Entain, Burberry Group, Relx, Experian, Intercontinental Hotels Group, IAG, Halma and Antofagasta, Melrose Industries, Rentokil Initial and Pershing Square Holdings gained 2%-4%.
Anglo American Plc, Endeavour Mining, Diageo, Spirax Group, Informa, Convatec Group, Natwest Group, Glencore, AutoTrader Group, Polar Capital Technology Trust, British Land, Smith & Nephew, Games Workshop and Legal & General also posted strong gains.
Imperial Brands fell nearly 8%. The British tobacco company has warned of increased losses from its NGPs due to increased investment in building both scale and market share.
British American Tobacco lost about 4.4%. Tesco shed nearly 2%, while BAE Systems, Sainsbury (J), Airtel Africa and 3i Group lost 1%-1.5%.
