(Sharecast News) - London stocks gave up earlier gains to end a little lower on Friday, with investors likely taking some profits after the top-flight index hit another fresh intraday high.
The FTSE 100 closed down 0.3% at 10,868.05, having hit a fresh intraday high of 10,989.45
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "End of month profit taking might be a bit of a clich, but with a weekend of potential strikes on Iran and the last day of July trading upon us investors have looked to book in some gains.
"The FTSE 100 has come back into favour over the last two weeks, as AI and chip stocks continue to suffer, and while a close above 11,000 eludes the index at present, it still seems a matter of when, not if."
Market participants were digesting the latest data from Nationwide, which showed that annual house price growth eased in July.
House prices rose 1.8% on the year, down from 2.2% growth in June. On the month, prices were up 0.1% in June, following no growth the month before. The average price of a home was 277,542 in July, up from 277,484.
Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner said: "Market activity and house prices have remained soft in recent months, in part reflecting the uncertain economic backdrop. Geopolitical tensions remain high, with the conflict between Iran and the US again exerting upward pressure on energy prices and market interest rates in recent weeks. Financial market expectations for the future path of Bank Rate have been volatile, reflecting shifting views about the inflationary implications of events at home and abroad.
"Despite the ongoing risks from the latest energy price shock, the Monetary Policy Committee can take some comfort from the fact that consumer price inflation declined further in June. Signs that wage growth has continued to ease gives policymakers more breathing space to assess the extent to which tighter policy is necessary to ensure inflation returns to target."
In equity markets, IG Group tumbled after saying late on Thursday that it had agreed to buy US daily fantasy sports and prediction markets operator Underdog for up to $1.3bn.
Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group said: "Investors appeared concerned about the price, strategic fit, execution risk and regulatory uncertainty attached to the move. At record index levels, the market is giving little benefit of the doubt to deals that appear to increase complexity."
Melrose slumped as it warned it expects to take a hit of between 25m and 30m in the second half after an incident at its Garden Grove facility in California. The engineer and owner of GKN Aerospace also said it has decided to pause the current 175m share buyback programme pending clarification of the impact of the incident.
Pearson fell even as the educational publisher said it remained on track to meet its 2026 guidance, driven by strong growth in its virtual learning division and rising demand for its artificial intelligence-powered study tools in the US.
Greggs was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'sector perform' from 'outperform' at RBC Capital Markets following first-half results.
Taylor Wimpey fell as the housebuilder trimmed its forecast for annual home completions, reported a decline in first-half profit and completions, and said it was reducing shareholder returns due to a more prolonged than expected downturn in the housing market.
BA and Iberia owner IAG flew lower as it reported a drop in first-half profit as the war in the Middle East caused fuel costs to surge, and said it no longer expects any capacity growth this year.
On the upside, NatWest shot to the top of the FTSE 100 as it reported strong half-year earnings driven by a jump in net interest income.
Sainsbury's rose after agreeing to sell Argos to newly-formed retail vehicle Swift Partners - whose shareholders include former Co-op Group CEO Richard Pennycook - for 120m.
BP and Shell were also in the black as oil prices crept higher again.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,868.05 -0.27%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,975.02 -0.43%
techMARK (TASX) 6,037.87 -0.33%
FTSE 100 - Risers
NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 705.80p 3.22%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,808.00p 2.26%
Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 46.22p 2.17%
BAE Systems (BA.) 2,094.00p 2.15%
Shell (SHEL) 3,383.50p 1.94%
BP (BP.) 552.50p 1.77%
Centrica (CNA) 155.00p 1.57%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,330.50p 1.18%
Alliance Witan (ALW) 1,345.00p 1.13%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 359.40p 1.04%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 1,460.00p -14.42%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 454.30p -4.40%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 89.46p -4.14%
Experian (EXPN) 2,790.00p -3.73%
Informa (INF) 885.80p -3.06%
Pearson (PSON) 1,257.00p -2.97%
Next (NXT) 14,845.00p -2.59%
Relx plc (REL) 2,607.00p -2.54%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,636.00p -2.51%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,158.50p -2.48%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 599.00p 5.46%
Pacific Horizon Inv Trust (PHI) 1,056.00p 5.39%
AEP Plantations (AEP) 180.00p 5.26%
Hammerson (HMSO) 382.00p 3.58%
Schroder Asian Total Return Investment Company (ATR) 690.00p 3.45%
Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) 111.90p 3.04%
JPMorgan Emerging Markets Growth & Income (JMGI) 161.80p 2.93%
Energean (ENOG) 763.00p 2.83%
Templeton Emerging Markets Inv Trust (TEM) 305.00p 2.52%
Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 626.50p 2.45%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Greggs (GRG) 1,880.00p -7.48%
Hays (HAS) 56.40p -6.47%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 78.00p -6.39%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 667.00p -4.71%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 3,910.00p -4.63%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 195.80p -4.39%
Rank Group (RNK) 96.80p -3.59%
Man Group (EMG) 302.20p -3.51%
Pan African Resources (PAF) 92.15p -3.41%
Michael Page (PAGE) 181.70p -3.25%
29.22 (0.27%)
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