UK stocks traded largely unchanged at the close on Friday as investors shrugged off better than expected US non-farm payroll figures and a slew of positive earnings surprises from companies. At 4.35pm the benchmark FTSE 100 index inched up 5 points to 6,032 as weakness in banks, energy stocks and mining firms offset a strong performance by companies reporting earnings. WINNERS Generic ...

UK stocks traded marginally lower on Friday as investors mulled growing trade tensions and markets awaited the latest US non-farm payroll figures for an insight into the world’s leading economy. At midday the benchmark FTSE 100 index edged down 5 points to 6,022 as weakness in banks and energy stocks offset a strong performance by companies reporting earnings. WINNERS Generic drugs ...

Shares in asset management behemoth Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) gained 1% to 266p as it kept its dividend and maintained plans to complete its share buyback programme. It came after the firm posted a 30% fall in adjusted pre-tax profits in the first half of the year to £195 million. The firm pinned the fall on a 13% drop in fee-based first half revenues to £706 million due to outflows ...

Property listings site Rightmove (RMV) was one of the top risers in the FTSE 100 this morning after seeing a stronger than expected recovery in the housing market. Its shares gained over 9% to 630p after the company said home hunter demand has been strong since its customers started re-opening their businesses from 13 May, supported by changes in consumer needs and the recent announcement of ...

Ride hailing firm Uber lost $1.8 billion in the second quarter as millions stopped using its legion of cabs during the Covid-19 lockdown. Despite a boom in its food delivery arm, Uber Eats, the company as a whole saw a 29% plunge in adjusted net revenues to $2.18 billion. However, investors were left largely impressed at the relative resilience of a business that was always going to suffer a ...

UK retail footfall decreased by 42% year-on-year during July, marking a 20.5% improvement on the 63% slump observed in June, according to the latest data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Yet while visits to stores picked up, retail footfall remains significantly south of levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The re-opening of pubs and restaurants in England on 4 July ...

It was a slow start to trading in shares on Friday as rising Covid-19 cases and US-China tensions dented sentiment at the end of a week marked by largely upbeat quarterly earnings and improving economic data. The benchmark FTSE 100 opened a fraction lower in subdued trading, nudging 0.03% lower to 6,025.37, but remains on course for its first weekly gain in three as investors bet on more ...

The FTSE 100 continued its decline throughout Thursday morning, falling below the 6,000 mark as investor hopes of a V-shaped economic recovery were dampened by the Bank of England. The central bank said the British economy would not recover its end-2019 size until the end of next year, later than its earlier estimate of a recovery by the second half of 2021. In its policy decision, the ...

Shares in insurance giant Aviva (AV.) were the second-best performers on the FTSE on Wednesday, gaining 4% to 295p, after the firm reinstated its dividends with a second 2019 interim payout of 6p per share and its new chief executive pledged to ‘unlock value for shareholders’. Financially the first half of 2020 was ‘solid’, with operating profits down 12% to £1.22 billion as fewer ...

It’s been a busy week for director deals with a number of executives looking to take advantage of movements in their company’s share price. One of the most interesting moves over the past week comes from FTSE 250 software company Kainos (KNOS), whose senior business development executive, Paul Gannon, offloaded a number of shares for a princely sum. Gannon sold 400,000 shares in total ...