UK stocks mixed; FTSE 100 marks best month in six
The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE), opens new tab fell 0.05%. However the index posted its best month in six.
The domestically focused midcap FTSE 250 index (.FTMC), opens new tab rose 0.9% and logged its fourth consecutive monthly gain.
Over the past month, investors have digested a flurry of trade headlines from Washington and are still assessing the impact of U.S. tariffs on corporate earnings, although attention is now turning to hopes of a Bank of England rate cut next week.
In the market, aerospace and defence stocks (.FTNMX502010), opens new tab gained the most among sectors, up 5.1%, after Rolls-Royce (RR.L), opens new tab raised its full-year operating profit and free cash flow outlook. Shares of the British aero-engineer hit a record high with 8.5% rise.
Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab gained 1.2%. The oil major's second-quarter net profit tumbled by almost a third, but exceeded analysts' forecasts.
On trade, Trump released fresh levies ranging from updates on copper tariffs, goods from Brazil, South Korea and India, as well as ending exemptions for small-value overseas shipments, ahead of his August 1 tariff deadline.
Industrial miners (.FTNMX551020), opens new tab slipped 2.6% tracking lower copper prices.
Glencore (GLEN.L), opens new tab, Anglo American (AAL.L), opens new tab and Antofagasta (ANTO.L), opens new tab fell between 2.2% to 5.9%.
Among other corporate updates, St James's Place (SJP.L), opens new tab was the top gainer in the FTSE 100, up 11.9%, after the wealth manager's half-yearly net inflows doubled and it launched a new share buyback.
Rentokil (RTO.L), opens new tab soared 9.5% after the pest control company kept its full-year outlook unchanged and posted half-yearly revenue growth of 3.1%.
British American Tobacco (BATS.L), opens new tab rose 1.3% after the company exceeded its first-half profit estimates.
Conversely, Mondi (MNDI.L), opens new tab fell the most in the FTSE 100, down 12.1%, after the packaging firm posted a near 17% fall in first-half pretax profit.
A slowdown in the London Stock Exchange Group's (LSEG.L), opens new tab recurring revenue growth sent the company's shares down nearly 8%.
Just Group (JUSTJ.L), opens new tab surged 67.5% to top the FTSE 250 midcap index, after Canada's Brookfield Wealth Solutions (BNT.N), opens new tab agreed to acquire the insurer for 2.4 billion pounds ($3.18 billion).
On the radar next week, the Bank of England is expected to cut borrowing costs for the fifth time since last August.
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