U.K. markets were little changed on Thursday as shares of a number of companies traded ex-dividend.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 2 points at 6,952 after losing 1.2 percent on Wednesday.
Tesco shares fell 2.7 percent on going ex-dividend, GlaxoSmithKline fell over 1 percent and Unilever dropped half a percent.
Rail operator Trainline slumped as much as 24 percent after the government said it would digitize train-ticketing as part of an overhaul of its rail service.
Telecommunications company BT Group fell 1.4 percent after a brokerage downgrade.
Royal Mail tumbled 3.3 percent. The postal services company held back from providing a forecast for the current year, citing a number of uncertainties.
Budget airline EasyJet dropped 2.6 percent after reporting a wider half-year loss.
National Grid gained about 1 percent. The utility reported that its fiscal 2021 profit before tax climbed 19 percent to 2.08 billion pounds from last year’s 1.75 billion pounds.
FTSE 100 Little Changed In Cautious Trade
2021-05-20 09:26:15
