U.K. stocks were subdued on Wednesday as investors digested a slew of earnings updates and kept a wary eye on the situation in the Middle East.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was marginally lower at 7,389 after closing 0.2 percent higher on Tuesday.
BP Plc and Shell were little changed as oil prices rebounded following China’s approval of a mega sovereign bond issue.
GSK rose about 1 percent after announcing “positive” preliminary results from the third phase of its trial of Arexvy, a vaccine against the potentially fatal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that causes lower respiratory tract disease.
Reckitt Benckiser plunged 5.3 percent after the maker of Dettol and Lysol cleaning products missed third quarter like-for-like sales expectations.
Precious metals miner Fresnillo lost about 2 percent after both silver and gold output fell in the third quarter.
Essentra, a leading provider of essential components and solutions, slumped 7.6 percent after saying it expects full year adjusted operating profit to be “towards the lower end” of its expectations.
Lender Lloyds Banking Group was up 0.6 percent after reaffirming its full-year outlook.
FTSE 100 Marginally Lower As Earnings Pour In
2023-10-25 09:28:50
