Share prices in London closed lower on Thursday as the FTSE 100 snapped its winning streak amid a sharp fall for British Gas owner Centrica, although oil majors rose as Brent rose on uncertainty in Iran.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 59.14 points, or 0.6%, at 10,627.04, the FTSE 250 closed down 112.95 points, or 0.5%, at 23,573.49, and the AIM index closed down 0.60 points, or 0.1%, at 811.14.
In European equities, the Cac 40 in Paris closed with a fall of 0.4% and the Dax 40 in Frankfurt closed with a fall of 0.9%.
The pound fell on Thursday afternoon to $1.3455 from $1.3548 at the close of trading on Wednesday.
“He [FTSE 100] The index retreated as investors digested a series of earnings results. But the downside could prove 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 pouring into UK stocks lately. That trend is likely to continue for some time yet.
“Today, rising oil prices amid tensions in the Middle East are helping to cushion the declines, with energy names like BP providing support.”
Fears about developments in Iran were in the spotlight on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump urged Tehran to reach a “meaningful” deal as a massive US military buildup in the Middle East takes shape amid threats of US action.
“Over the years it has been shown that it is not easy to reach a meaningful agreement with Iran. We have to reach a meaningful agreement, otherwise bad things will happen,” he said at the inaugural meeting of the so-called Peace Board, his initiative to ensure stability in Gaza.
He warned that Washington “may have to go one step further” without any deal, adding: “They'll find out probably in the next 10 days.”
Brent crude rose Thursday afternoon to $71.71 a barrel from $69.62 on Wednesday. Gold barely budged, settling at $5,003.14 an ounce, down from $5,002.90.
As a result, shares of BP and Shell ended up 2.0% and 0.5% respectively.
Stocks in New York were down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.2%.
The 10-year US Treasury yield was unchanged from Wednesday at 4.08%. The 30-year US Treasury yield widened to 4.71% from 4.69%.
Some Federal Reserve officials 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 outline of the committee's future interest rate decisions, reflecting the possibility that upward adjustments in the target range for the federal funds rate might be appropriate if inflation remains at above-target levels,” according to minutes released Wednesday.
Last month, the Federal Reserve left the federal funds rate target range between 3.50% and 3.75%.
In London, Centrica fell the most on the FTSE 100, losing 4.7% after the company said it is pausing its share buybacks to invest in its infrastructure portfolio, including nuclear power. Additionally, analysts said their forecasts for 2026 “look weak.”
Centrica said it returned £1.1 billion in total to shareholders during 2025, including £800 million through share buybacks. In January it completed its £2bn overall share buyback programme, buying back a quarter of its total share capital.
However, the company said: “We are now pausing the program because we believe the investment offers an opportunity to create more value for shareholders at this time. We will maintain our capital discipline, the balance sheet will remain under constant review and excess capital will be returned to shareholders.”
Berenberg said the company is targeting a lower 2026, with long-term improvements.
UBS analysts said guidance for 2026 “looks weak” as the center of the ebitda range for the new retail and optimization segments is £900m, compared to £977m for UBS.
“Centrica is pausing buybacks so it can allocate spending to growth projects, including Sizewell C nuclear power. Executing these ventures will be challenging and will impact the company's healthy cash position, but could lead to more stable earnings if they ultimately prove successful,” said Dan Coatsworth, analyst at AJ Bell.
Mondi shares rose 1.2%. It slashed its dividend as the packaging company continued to grapple with the “prolonged cyclical downturn” facing the industry.
The Weybridge-based packaging company reduced its final dividend to 4.92 euro cents in 2025, well below 46.67 euro cents in 2024, reducing the total payout for 2025 from 70 euro cents to 28.25 euro cents.
For 2025, Mondi reported a 29% drop in its pre-tax profit to 269 million euros from 378 million in 2024.
But income was 7,660 million euros, 3.2% more than 7,420 million. Underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell 4.7% to 1 billion euros from 1.05 billion.
On the FTSE 250 index, Raspberry Pi fell 6.9% after making strong gains this week after a social media post said AI agents such as OpenClaw could boost demand for the company's single-board computers.
The stock is still up 36% over the past week.
On AIM, Thruvision Group shares rose 20%.
The Abingdon-based person detection technology provider said it has secured multiple new contracts at UK detention facilities, worth a total of £500,000.
“These contract awards reflect the growing recognition of Thruvision's technology in UK custodial environments 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 and growing confidence in our ability,” said CEO Victoria Balchin.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were British American Tobacco, which rose 129.0p to 4,473.0p, Relx, which rose 59.0p to 2,293.0p, BAE Systems, which rose 53.0p to 2,163.0p. 1,397.0p.
The biggest fallers were Centrica, down 10.1p to 185.9p, Barclays, down 18.1p to 467.9p, Rio Tinto, down 271.0p to 7,118.0p, easyJet, down 16.8p to 475.5p, and Metlen Energy & Metals, down 1.2p to 34.9p.
Contributed by Alliance News
