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London’s blue chip index was beaten by its peers in Paris and Frankfurt on Friday morning, as IAG and Rightmove fell; meanwhile the average UK house price grew faster than expected in October. The FTSE 100 index opened down 32.54 points, 0.3%, at 9,703.24. The FTSE 250 was up 23.59 points, 0.1%, at 21,928.62, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.13 points at 753.26. The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.2% at 968.24, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 18,980.97, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.1% at 17,919.05. In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt were up 0.1%. The average UK house price grew faster than expected in October, Halifax data showed. For October, the average price was £299,862, up 0.6% from September and 1.9% higher than a year ago. The changes beat the FXStreet-cited consensus, which was for an on-month increase of 0.1% and a 1.5% rise annually. Prices in September had fallen 0.3% monthly and climbed 1.3% annually. ‘October saw the biggest monthly rise in UK house prices since January this year,’ said Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages at Halifax. ‘Demand from buyers has held up well coming into autumn, despite a degree of uncertainty in the market, with the number of new mortgages being approved recently hitting its highest level so far this year.’ Sterling was at $1.3104 on Friday morning, down marginally from $1.3106 at the London equities close on Thursday. The euro was unchanged at $1.1536. Against the yen, the dollar was higher at JP¥153.46 versus JP¥153.12. In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was down 1.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.3% lower, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong retreated 0.9%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was down 0.7%. In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.8%, while the S&P 500 sank 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.9%. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury widened to 4.11% on Friday morning from 4.09% at Thursday’s close. The yield on the 30-year was at 4.71%, widened from 4.68%. ‘Clearly, sentiment remains very fragile indeed, be that as a result of continued jitters over the AI frenzy, those warnings about a pullback from bank CEOs earlier in the week, or potentially just a reflection of the market at large having come a very long way, in a very short space of time,’ Pepperstone analyst Michael Brown said. ‘Concurrently, my belief remains that the fundamental bull case is a strong one, with the policy backdrop becoming increasingly loose, earnings growth robust, and the underlying economy resilient.’ In London, Hikma Pharmaceuticals led the way on the FTSE 100 as it rose 1.5%, bouncing back slightly after sinking 14% on Thursday when it reduced medium term guidance and cut the top-end of its 2025 core operating profit view. Rightmove was the worst performer on the blue-chip index and sank 17% after it reaffirmed its 2025 guidance given in July and introduced 2026 guidance, as it said it expects revenue growth between 8% and 10%. The Milton Keynes, England-based real estate portal operator said it continues to demonstrate strong execution and results. Rightmove expects underlying operating profit growth between 3% and 5% in 2026. It affirmed 2025 guidance for revenue growth of around 9%, within the existing guidance range between 8% and 10%. It expects a 70% underlying operating margin. ‘AI is now becoming absolutely central to how we run our business and plan for the future... We are investing to accelerate our capabilities, which we are confident will create an even stronger platform and higher-growth business over time. We aim to further advance our leading digital position in the UK property ecosystem,’ said Chief Executive Officer Johan Svanstrom. Shares in International Consolidated Airlines were down 8.6% after it maintained its annual outlook, but reported ‘softness’ in US travel and weaker prices in the European market. The London-based owner of British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia said pretax profit in the third quarter of 2025 fell 2.1% on-year to €1.87 billion from €1.91 billion. Revenue was flat at €9.33 billion. ‘We delivered a strong performance in the third quarter and remain on track to deliver another year of growth in revenues, profit and shareholder returns,’ Chief Executive Officer Luis Gallego said. IAG said that overall, it had a ‘good performance’ in the third quarter, after a ‘record’ period a year prior. ‘As expected the North Atlantic market saw some softness in US point-of-sale economy leisure and unit prices across our airlines were lower in the European market due to a combination of high growth by British Airways and more competitive markets elsewhere. The South Atlantic and Asia Pacific markets were strong,’ it said. Looking ahead, IAG left its annual guidance unchanged and noted revenue is ‘positively booked for the fourth quarter’. On the FTSE 250 index, ITV jumped 15% after it confirmed it is in the early stages of talks to sell its Media & Entertainment arm to Comcast-owned Sky in a deal worth £1.6 billion. The London-based television broadcaster and content producer said there can be no certainty that a deal will be struck. ITV’s M&E arm includes the ITVX streaming service and its television channels. The announcement, noting ‘recent press speculation’, follows a Financial Times report on Thursday which stated that Comcast was in talks to buy the unit. Philadelphia-based Comcast sees the potential to combine ITV’s TV business with Sky, which the US group bought in 2018, to create a leading streaming service in the UK, FT sources said. Talks are at an early stage, while a number of other possible suitors are circling ITV, the FT said. ME Group International shares were down 6.2%. The Surrey, England-based vending machine operator said it expects to report total revenue for the full year to the end of October between £311 million and £318 million. It expects to report ‘another year of record profitability’ with pretax profit between £76 million and £79 million. The firm said its review of strategic options to enhance shareholder value, including seeking offers for the company, is ongoing. ‘Whilst the macro-economic backdrop is still uncertain, the group remains well-positioned to deliver continued revenue and profit growth in the year ahead,’ ME Group said. Among small-caps, RentGuarantor sank 44% after it said it raised £2.5 million from a subscription of 20.3 million shares at 12.5p each. The net proceeds are intended to support the company’s growth and facilitate a ‘wider marketing campaign’, to be timed with the passage of the Renters’ Rights Act. Gold was higher at $4,010.30 an ounce early on Friday from $3,977.52 late Thursday. Brent oil was trading higher at $63.94 a barrel from $63.25. Still to come on Friday’s economic calendar are unemployment figures in Canada and the Michigan consumer sentiment index in the US. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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