Business
FTSE 100 pauses rally as Iran tensions escalate
Stock prices in London closed lower on Thursday as the FTSE 100 broke its winning streak amid a sharp fall for British Gas owner Centrica, though oil majors climbed as Brent surged on uncertainty in Iran.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 59.14 points, or 0.6%, at 10,627.04, the FTSE 250 ended down 112.95 points, or 0.5%, at 23,573.49, and the AIM all-share closed down 0.60 points, or 0.1%, at 811.14.
In European equities, the Cac 40 in Paris closed down 0.4%, and the Dax 40 in Frankfurt ended 0.9% lower.
The pound slumped to 1.3455 dollars on Thursday afternoon from 1.3548 at the equities close on Wednesday.
“The [FTSE 100] index fell back as investors digest a number of earnings results. But the downside could prove to be short-lived,” said StoneX analyst Fawad Razaqzada.
“Supported by a weaker pound and expectations that the Bank of England will cut rates in March, and potentially again in June, investors have been piling into UK stocks lately. That trend is likely to stay for a while yet.
“Today, rising oil prices amid Middle East tensions are helping to cushion the falls, with energy names like BP providing support.”
Fears around developments in Iran were in focus on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump urged Tehran to strike a “meaningful” deal as a huge American military build-up takes shape in the Middle East amid US threats of action.
“It’s proven to be over the years not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran. We have to make a meaningful deal otherwise bad things happen,” he told the inaugural meeting of the so-called Board of Peace, his initiative to secure stability in Gaza.
He warned that Washington “may have to take it a step further” without any agreement, adding: “You’re going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days.”
Brent oil was higher at 71.71 dollars a barrel on Thursday afternoon from 69.62 late on Wednesday. Gold barely budged, sitting at 5,003.14 dollars an ounce, against 5,002.90.
As a result, shares in BP and Shell ended up 2.0% and 0.5% respectively.
Stocks in New York were lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.2%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was unchanged from Wednesday at 4.08%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury widened to 4.71% from 4.69%.
Some Federal Reserve policymakers believe the central bank should not rule out rate hikes, minutes from its latest meeting showed.
“Several participants indicated that they would have supported a two-sided description of the committee’s future interest rate decisions, reflecting the possibility that upward adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate could be appropriate if inflation remains at above-target levels,” according to the minutes released on Wednesday.
The Fed last month left the federal funds rate target range at 3.50%-3.75%.
In London, Centrica fell the most on the FTSE 100, losing 4.7% after the firm said it is pausing its share buybacks to invest in its infrastructure portfolio, including nuclear power. In addition, analysts said its 2026 guidance “appears weak”.
Centrica noted that it returned £1.1 billion in total to shareholders during 2025, including £800 million though share buybacks. It completed its overall £2 billion share buyback programme in January, repurchasing a quarter of its total share capital.
However, the company said: “We are now pausing the programme as we believe investment offers an opportunity to create more value for shareholders at this juncture. We will retain our capital discipline, the balance sheet will remain under constant review and excess capital will be returned to shareholders.”
Berenberg said the firm is guiding for a lower 2026, with improvements in the long term.
Analysts at UBS said guidance for 2026 “appears weak” as the centre of the ebitda range for the new retail and optimisation segments is £900 million, versus UBS’s £977 million.
“Centrica is hitting pause on buybacks so it can allocate spending to growth projects including the Sizewell C nuclear power. Executing on these ventures will be challenging and will put a dent in the company’s healthy cash position but could deliver more stable earnings if they ultimately prove successful,” said AJ Bell analyst Dan Coatsworth.
Mondi shares climbed 1.2%. It slashed its dividend as the packaging firm continued to grapple with “prolonged cyclical downturn” facing the industry.
The Weybridge-based packaging firm chopped its final dividend to 4.92 euro cents in 2025, down sharply from 46.67 cents in 2024, reducing the total payout for 2025 to 28.25 cents from 70 cents.
For 2025, Mondi reported a 29% slump in pre-tax profit to 269 million euros from 378 million in 2024.
But revenue was 7.66 billion euros, up 3.2% from 7.42 billion. Underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation were down 4.7% to 1.00 billion euros from 1.05 billion.
On the FTSE 250 index, Raspberry Pi retreated 6.9% after making sharp gains this week after a social media post said AI agents such as OpenClaw could drive demand for the firm’s single-board computers.
The stock is still up 36% over the last week.
On AIM, shares in Thruvision Group jumped 20%.
The Abingdon-based provider of walk-through people-screening technology said it has secured multiple new contracts at UK custodial facilities, worth £500,000 in total.
“These contract awards reflect the growing recognition of Thruvision’s technology across UK custodial settings and the clear operational value it delivers. The fact that institutions are selecting our solutions independently, on a site-by-site basis, demonstrates genuine demand pull and increasing confidence in our capability,” said chief executive Victoria Balchin.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were British American Tobacco, up 129.0p at 4,473.0p, Relx, up 59.0p at 2,293.0p, BAE Systems, up 53.0p at 2,163.0p, BP, up 9.5p at 479.0p, and Babcock International, up 21.0p at 1,397.0p.
The biggest fallers were Centrica, down 10.1p at 185.9p, Barclays, down 18.1p at 467.9p, Rio Tinto, down 271.0p at 7,118.0p, easyJet, down 16.8p at 475.5p, and Metlen Energy & Metals, down 1.2p at 34.9p.
Contributed by Alliance News
Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma’s board on Monday approved a Rs 800 crore share proposal to buy back up to 54.23 lakh fully paid-up equity shares of the company of face value Rs 1 each at Rs 1,475 a share.The proposed buyback, which is subject to regulatory and statutory approvals, represents up to 0.93% of the total number of equity shares in the company’s total paid-up equity share capital.The Hyderabad-based generics drug maker informed the bourses that April 17, 2026, has been fixed as the record date to determine shareholder eligibility and entitlement for the buyback, which will be carried out through the tender offer route on a proportionate basis, in line with SEBI’s Buyback Regulations and the Companies Act.All eligible equity shareholders, including promoters and promoter group entities holding shares on the record date, will be entitled to participate in the offer for which the company has already constituted a buyback committee.The company also said the board or buyback committee may increase the buyback price and correspondingly reduce the number of shares to be bought back up to one working day before the record date but the overall size will remain unchanged.The Rs 800 crore buyback size excludes transaction costs and related expenses such as brokerage, taxes, filing fees, legal charges and publication expenses, it said.The latest buyback comes less than two years after the last buyback offer aggregating to Rs 750 crore that was made at Rs 1,460 a piece in August 2024 by the company.As of December 31, 2025, promoters and promoter group entities held 51.82% stake in the company, mutual funds 19.52%, foreign portfolio investors 13.94%, insurance companies 5.50%, and public shareholders and others 7.93%.
Major UK supermarkets are facing renewed pressure to restore worker pay to the real living wage, after many retailers scaled back commitments amidst significant industry cost pressures.
Investor activist group ShareAction is leading the call, urging the country’s largest grocery chains to reinstate pay at this level.
The campaign follows recent pay increases announced by the sector, ahead of the 1 April rise in the national minimum wage to £12.71 per hour for those aged 21 and over.
While many now pay above this statutory minimum, few currently match the higher real living wage.
This voluntary, independently calculated benchmark, reflecting true living costs, is currently £13.45 an hour nationally and £14.80 in London.
M&S was revealed last month to be no longer offering pay in line with the real living wage when it announced its latest wage hike, despite a rise of at least 6.4 per cent and offering levels above the national minimum wage and inflation.
The Co-operative Group also became the latest to announce its pay rise for workers, with a 3.5 per cent increase from April, but has now dropped a previous “long-standing commitment” to the real living wage.
The two biggest players in the sector – Tesco and Sainsbury’s – also no longer match pay to the real living wage and have not since 2025.
Both pay higher than the national minimum wage after above-inflation rises, but not at the living wage level.
Discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl are the only major supermarkets to pay entry-level shop staff in line with the real living wage nationwide, with Aldi’s hourly rate exceeding the benchmark.
The John Lewis Partnership, which owns supermarket Waitrose, has hiked shop staff pay by 6.9% from April but only matches the real living wage for employees within the M25.
ShareAction said pressure on firms to make firm commitments on pay would be a “major focus” for it at upcoming annual meetings for shareholders.
But it comes amid steep cost pressures on the sector, not least higher National Insurance contributions after the tax hike in April last year.
Louise Eldridge, head of good work at ShareAction, said: “It’s disappointing to see supermarkets like M&S, Sainsbury’s and Tesco moving away from matching the real Living Wage pay rates after setting the pace in recent years.
“We know retailers are under real pressure.
“The latest Living Wage rise reflects higher living costs, but that’s exactly why paying people a wage can actually live on is so important.”
She added: “Investors have been making the case to these companies that better pay has proven business benefits, from better morale to lower turnover and higher productivity.
“We’ve made progress on disclosure, but that alone won’t help staff cover the basics, so we’re continuing to push for concrete commitments on pay. This will be a major focus for us at supermarket AGMs this year.”
A spokeswoman for Sainsbury’s, which increased worker pay by 5 per cent in April, said the group had increased hourly wages by 42 per cent in the past five years.
“Our colleagues are at the heart of our success and rewarding them well continues to be a priority,” she said.
A Co-op spokesperson said: “In recent years we have aligned our lowest rates of pay with the Real Living Wage, although we are not formally accredited as a Real Living Wage employer.
“Pay is considered as part of our wider reward offer, which includes benefits such as paid breaks, colleague discounts and wellbeing support.”
M&S stressed it has never formally committed to the living wage.
Tesco said its wages have risen by 43 per cent over the last five years, adding its workers “also benefit from a competitive reward package”.
The Felix Project is among the organisations feeling the effects of increased costs due to the conflict in Iran.
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