WH Smith (LON:SMWH) high-street sale faces investor focus after TG Jones court delay
TG Jones, which bought WH Smith’s high street stores, was still waiting on a High Court
South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) share price bounce leaves June selloff intact before quarterly update
South32 Ltd entered Tuesday’s pre-open after a 1.79% rise on Monday, but the bounce did little to repair June’s damage. The miner closed at A$3.98; since June 22 it is down 4.1%,
FTSE 250 lags FTSE 100 as housebuilders pressured by mortgage drop
London had finished trading at the usual 0800-1630 BST hours when the numbers came in. The main story wasn’t the FTSE 100’s minor fall. Domestic names took the bigger hit, with mid-caps dropping harder than the FTSE’s biggest stocks. Hargreaves Lansdown’s market board was running late, with the FTSE 100 off 23.80 points at 10,484.22. The FTSE 250 dropped 132.34 points to 23,014.85. The FTSE All-Share slipped 0.26%.
Macquarie trades near record, staff plan buyup mostly off-market
Macquarie Group Ltd heads into Tuesday’s pre-open close to a record. But the A$734 million employee share plan isn’t the real figure for investors. Only A$53.3 million was actually bought on the market. The rest happened off market, meaning the exchange-traded purchase was much smaller than the full staff-share number. ASX cash trading was not open at the dateline since it was still ahead of the standard session. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sydney time on business days. June 30 isn’t on ASX’s 2026 list of named holidays.
National Grid stock climbs, £70bn grid plan exceeds market cap
National Grid plc added ground Monday, outpacing the broader London market. Investors continued to pile in, backing a regulated asset-growth pitch with a footprint that now outstrips the company's equity value. The stock was last seen at 1,255p, up 0.76%, at 15:02:06 BST. It traded between 1,239.5p and 1,257p so far today. The FTSE 100 slipped 0.06% on the same feed. Reuters said UK shares lost ground earlier after Middle East tensions weighed on sentiment.
Diageo (LON:DGE) shares edge up with traders watching cost-cut talk ahead of August update
Diageo plc climbed in London Monday, outperforming the FTSE 100 as traders looked to cost cuts and broker upgrades, setting aside lagging U.S. spirits sales. The London Stock Exchange was open as usual, with trading from 0800 to 1630 local time. Davy quoted Diageo at 1,596.00p, up 19.50p, or 1.24%, at 1401 BST with a 20-minute lag. Shares opened at 1,571.00p, hit a low of 1,556.10p, and pushed to 1,598.50p. That set a 2.7% range for the day against Friday’s close.
Lloyds (LON:LLOY) buyback questioned as mortgages drop, stock eyes 109p
Lloyds Banking Group plc shares saw a slight gain in late-morning trade in London on Monday. The move came as new data showed UK mortgage approvals dropped about 15% in May, raising questions for Lloyds, given its heavy reliance on home loans. Lloyds traded up on delayed UK quotes, with two other local bank stocks down.
Tesco trades higher as repurchase hits 59% of target, grocery share cools
Tesco PLC traded higher in London on Monday. A new buyback update showed Tesco has now executed around 59% of its planned £750 million repurchase, providing some direct per-share support as UK grocery volume figures remain mixed. London Stock Exchange was open for business, with the regular session running from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. BST. TradingHours.com confirmed the exchange was open Monday. As of 10:55 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.27% at 10,479.49. Tesco traded at 463.70p, up 3.80p, or 0.83%, according to delayed London South East data.
easyJet (LON:EZJ) stock trails Castlelake offer on deal terms snag
easyJet plc shares remain priced with a takeover discount, after the airline gave Castlelake access to only limited commercial information. The delayed quote showed the stock at 580.2p to sell, 580.6p to buy, off 0.51% for the day. Shares opened at 587p and closed previously at 583p. The discount figure is what investors are watching. Castlelake put forward a fourth offer at 650p a share in cash. easyJet turned it down, calling it too low, but said more access to data could bring a “more attractive proposal”.
IAG shares dip on Heathrow cost dispute, offsetting oil price drop and dividend
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA shares dropped Monday. But for investors, fuel wasn’t the only concern. The British Airways parent is trading close to its old highs, as a new dispute about who pays for Heathrow’s expansion brings attention to a costly item the company can’t hedge. IAG was last at 473.25 pence, off 9.45 pence, as of 0946 BST. Volume was 2.24 million shares. The stock is trading 3.99% under its 52-week high of 492.90 pence from June 25, but it's still up 39.5% for the year, per delayed market data.
Tesco trades higher as repurchase hits 59% of target, grocery share cools
Tesco PLC traded higher in London on Monday. A new buyback update showed Tesco has now executed around 59% of its planned £750 million repurchase, providing some direct per-share support as UK grocery volume figures remain mixed. London Stock Exchange was open for business, with the regular session running from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. BST. TradingHours.com confirmed the exchange was open Monday. As of 10:55 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.27% at 10,479.49. Tesco traded at 463.70p, up 3.80p, or 0.83%, according to delayed London South East data.
easyJet (LON:EZJ) stock trails Castlelake offer on deal terms snag
easyJet plc shares remain priced with a takeover discount, after the airline gave Castlelake access to only limited commercial information. The delayed quote showed the stock at 580.2p to sell, 580.6p to buy, off 0.51% for the day. Shares opened at 587p and closed previously at 583p. The discount figure is what investors are watching. Castlelake put forward a fourth offer at 650p a share in cash. easyJet turned it down, calling it too low, but said more access to data could bring a “more attractive proposal”.
IAG shares dip on Heathrow cost dispute, offsetting oil price drop and dividend
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA shares dropped Monday. But for investors, fuel wasn’t the only concern. The British Airways parent is trading close to its old highs, as a new dispute about who pays for Heathrow’s expansion brings attention to a costly item the company can’t hedge. IAG was last at 473.25 pence, off 9.45 pence, as of 0946 BST. Volume was 2.24 million shares. The stock is trading 3.99% under its 52-week high of 492.90 pence from June 25, but it's still up 39.5% for the year, per delayed market data.
Glencore lags other miners as copper tightness doesn’t boost shares
Glencore plc ticked higher early in London on Monday, adding 0.79% to 518.75 pence in a Cboe Europe print at 09:10:56 BST. The move gave little relief to a shaky short-term trend for the big FTSE 100 commodities group. The FTSE 100 slipped 0.08% in delayed trading. What’s strange is Glencore shares dropped even though copper supply is still tight. LME cash copper finished at $13,287 a tonne on June 26, up 0.7% from a day ago. LME copper inventories slid to 336,475 tonnes from 349,225 tonnes on June 22, down 12,750 tonnes.
BP stock trails Shell after Brent rally leaves discount on debt
BP PLC ticked up on Monday. But gains lagged Shell as traders continued to give BP a weaker read, keeping a discount in place over its higher debt load, despite oil pushing higher after new U.S.-Iran strikes. BP was at 470.60 pence, gaining 1.20p, or 0.26%, as of 08:55 BST after London opened. Shell added 13p to 2,911p, up 0.45% at the same time. BP volume stood at about 2.02 million shares, only 4% of the 65-day average. Shell saw 272,110 shares change hands, roughly 3% of its 65-day average.
Rolls-Royce (LON:RR) stock steady as China A330neo deal eyes cash flow
Rolls-Royce Holdings plc ticked higher in early London trading on Monday, but the gain was modest for a stock often seen as a top test of aero-engine cash generation in Europe. By 09:04 BST, shares changed hands at 1,414.60p, up 0.60% during London’s main session, as the FTSE 100 slipped around 0.11%. China Eastern’s latest order landed with 25 A330neo widebodies on the table at a sticker price of around $9.35 billion. The jets run on Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines—so with two engines for each plane, that’s 50 installed. The filing seen by Reuters didn't break out a separate price for the engines or say anything about service contracts.
Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) gains with digital-asset growth in focus
Shares of Standard Chartered rose on July 3, 2026, in London, with investors watching the bank’s digital-asset expansion and what it could mean for fee growth. The stock traded higher at 17:05 BST. Standard Chartered PLC finished Friday trading at 2,122p, gaining 32p, or 1.53%, at 17:05 BST on delayed data from Davy. The FTSE 100 closed up 26.16 points, or 0.25%, at 10,679.03 at 16:35 BST, Investors Chronicle numbers show.
CRISM Therapeutics (LON:CRTX) shares hover near 10p placing price as Spreadex exposure falls
CRISM Therapeutics Corporation ended the week with the market testing a simple line: 10p. That was the price of the company’s 27.45 million-share May/June equity raise. It was also the exercise price for director options granted on June 30, making 10p the short-term level against which new money, management incentives and Friday’s share quote can be judged. Different delayed feeds did not settle on one clean reference after the London close.
Aterian (LON:ATN) shares climb 8% in London with light trade
Aterian PLC climbed 8% on Friday. The move came as the lightly traded London small-cap market reacted to the company shifting away from just exploration spending toward a model mixing funded field activity and mineral trading in Rwanda. The stock closed at 27p, up from 25p, after starting the session at 25.5p. LSEG data in Investors Chronicle put the day’s range between 24p and 27p. Hargreaves Lansdown reported 227,559 shares traded and showed a 26p/28p bid-offer.
Haleon stock gains as buyback math and Microsoft AI pact shift focus before H1 results
Haleon PLC rose for a third straight session at the London close on Friday. The Sensodyne maker has gained 4.8% since Tuesday’s close, a small but notable rebound before half-year results later this month, with the share count and cost story doing more work than sales momentum. The stock closed at 364.30p, up 1.08%, versus a 0.25% gain for the FTSE 100. The close was still 12.45% below Haleon’s 52-week high of 416.10p set on Feb. 18. Friday volume was 13.0 million shares, about 49% of the 26.38 million average shown by Investors Chronicle.
ISA cash tax differences leave UK investors with 83 bps choice ahead of 2027 rule shift
London’s main equities market was already closed at publication time. London Stock Exchange hours are 0800 to 1630 local. Britain’s new ISA anti-avoidance charge makes savers pick yield over cash. On a 3.75% return, the 22% tax slices 82.5 basis points off income—so £82.50 a year lost on every £10,000 kept as cash in a stocks and shares ISA. Interactive investor puts 3.75% as a standard money market fund yield now, with HMRC fixing the charge at 22%.
Tesco (TSCO.L) dips after buyback runs through 71% of £750m target
Tesco PLC traded lower Friday. The grocer’s regular buyback notice showed it’s spent £530.9 million out of a £750 million repurchase program that began in April. Shares last showed at 468.40p on the bid and 468.60p on the offer, off 5.10p, or 1.08%, according to delayed data from AJ Bell. The FTSE 100 was up 0.17% at 10,671.07, based on Hargreaves Lansdown figures.
DCC (LON:DCC) share price holds below offer cash leg as spread widens
DCC plc traded below the clean cash leg of a possible takeover offer on Friday, a sign that the market is still pricing risk into a deal that the board has said it could support. The London Stock Exchange session runs to 16:30 BST; the quote came in late trade. At 6,110p, DCC was 415p below the 6,525p cash component proposed by KKR & Co Inc and Energy Capital Partners. That is a 6.8% gap. The wider 6,672.22p headline package, which includes the proposed final dividend, sits 562.22p above the quote, or 9.2%. DCC is already marked ex-dividend in Davy’s data, so new money in the stock is likely to focus more on the cash leg than the dividend-inclusive number.
Coro Energy up 14% in light AIM trade before AGM
Coro Energy Plc jumped 14.29% to 4p on Friday, but volumes were thin. AJ Bell reported just 23,001 shares changing hands, and all the visible trades on July 3 totaled about £850. The bid-offer sat at 3p/4p, giving a 25% spread to the buy side. The London Stock Exchange kept its usual Friday hours, open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. BST. The stock movement landed during the session, not off a holiday close.
IMI shares gain ahead of £500 million buyback and July results
IMI plc pushed higher late in Friday’s London session, with trading patterns hinting at a cash-return move, not fresh news from the company. Shares were up 42p, or 1.44%, at 2,958p as of 16:01 BST on Google Finance. The FTSE 100 index added 0.18% at 15:47 BST. London Stock Exchange trading ends at 16:30 BST. IMI is trading near its highs, but the second £250 million piece of its buyback hasn’t shown up yet in daily filings. Investegate’s IMI RNS feed showed the most recent IMI update was a July 1 total voting rights notice; before that, a June 22 filing said the first £250 million buyback piece was finished.
Adnams PLC Class B shares: thin Aquis tape leaves debt repair as valuation test
Adnams plc traded in tiny size on Friday, leaving its Aquis Class B quote saying more about liquidity than a clean market view on the Suffolk brewer’s turnaround. The mid price was 1,600p, unchanged on Aquis’s price-change field, while the bid and ask stood 800p apart. AQSE trades from 8:00 to 16:30 each weekday, and the London timestamp used here fell inside that session. Adnams’s last reported trade was at 14:41 BST.
Critical Mineral Resources stock: CMRS share-count gap before Morocco resource estimate
Critical Mineral Resources PLC sat in a wide quote on Friday, with delayed retail data showing a 2.00p sell price and 2.30p buy price. AJ Bell showed the stock up 0.20p, or 9.52%, with 277,016 shares traded and a market value of £7.86 million. Hargreaves Lansdown showed the same spread and volume but a £7.30 million market cap, a small but material mismatch for a junior miner. London was open for normal trading at the time of the dateline. The London Stock Exchange schedule for July 3 shows trading from 0800 to 1630 BST, even though U.S. markets were shut for the Independence Day holiday.
ASA International (LON:ASAI) sets 52-week high, broker headroom tightens post-index rebalancing
ASA International Group PLC pushed to a new 52-week high Friday, making the small-cap microfinance lender one of the notable movers on a quiet UK session. LSEG data via Investors Chronicle showed shares at 276.30p at 14:45 BST, up 24.30p or 9.64%. Volume was 106,530 shares. Hargreaves Lansdown data had the FTSE All-Share just 0.12% higher. There was no same-day operating RNS tied to the jump. ASAI’s feed listed a June 19 correction on an options grant as the latest release, with the last trading update dated April 30. The closer link for the move was the June 9 announcement that ASA will join the FTSE All-Share when trading opens on June 22.
Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) steadies in London while lower-grade iron ore rivals take hit
Rio Tinto plc barely moved in London on Friday, with trading steady for the miner as it remains exposed to iron ore. China’s state buyer increased the pressure on lower-grade shipments from Fortescue Ltd. Shares traded at 7,078p at 15:04 BST, sitting between an intraday high of 7,179p and a low of 7,068p. The quote was during the regular London Stock Exchange hours, 8:00-16:30 BST. Rio's U.S.-listed ADR didn't trade as U.S. markets were shut July 3 for Independence Day. London shares showed the move.
Unilever shares fall with FTSE 350 lag as buyback math faces July earnings
Unilever shares dropped Wednesday, trailing the FTSE 350, as traders pointed to buyback calculations ahead of July results. LONDON, July 3, 2026, 15:07 BST Unilever PLC shares dropped in London on Friday after the company wrapped up a buyback, taking some stock out of voting. But most investors shrugged off Friday’s drop. The main issue is the buyback isn’t big compared to the nearly £100 billion equity value. Unilever shares are still lagging the broader UK market ahead of July results.
BAE Systems shares flat after UK ramps up submarine budget
BAE Systems plc edged lower late Friday in London, giving up some ground after Thursday’s rally. Shares traded at 1,981.01p as of 15:01 BST, down 0.08%. Investors looked past headline defence spending and focused on how much work could go to lower-margin submarine projects. The FTSE 100 Index was last off 0.03% according to Google Finance. BAE jumped 5.45% to £19.83 on Thursday, outpacing the FTSE 100, which added 1.67%. But MarketWatch data shows the stock remains 16% under its 52-week high of £23.60 set in March.
Alkemy Capital (ALK:LSE) up 12% as market value lags behind Teesside lithium plant plan
Alkemy Capital Investments Plc jumped 12.7% to 239p in London trading Friday, as action picked up in the small critical minerals name on the day of its annual meeting. ADVFN data showed 84,362 shares changing hands by 13:54 BST, with a 230p bid and 235p offer. The FTSE 100 traded at 10,640.15, off 0.12%. Alkemy’s gain stands out on the index, though it only recoups some of the late-June drop. Trading 212 daily data has the stock finishing at 237p on June 29, 224.5p June 30, then sliding to 216p July 1 and 212p July 2. The latest 239p quote is still 20.5% under the 300.5p close on June 15.
Safestay (LON:SSTY) puts £5.1m Glasgow sale cash on AIM board
Safestay reported it has sold its Glasgow hostel, booking £5.1 million in cash. The money puts more weight on the thinly traded AIM tape. London, July 3, 2026, 14:10 BST Safestay Plc, the AIM hostel group, is delivering a cash-number story for holders, but there's barely any volume on the tape. By 14:10 BST, London was trading as usual on Friday. The London Stock Exchange’s weekday hours are 8:00 to 16:30.
Anglo American share price rise triggers £448m swing on merger-era share count
Anglo American plc traded higher Friday, but merger watchers were looking at a regulatory filing from two days back: 1,178,050,272 ordinary shares outstanding, none held in treasury, and 98,906,534 in buyback entities with voting rights waived. Hargreaves Lansdown’s delayed price quote had Anglo at 3,778p to sell and 3,780p to buy, up 38p, or 1.02%, from its last close at 3,741p. The FTSE 100 was showing down 0.13% on the page, with Anglo ahead of the index in this latest read.
RELX PLC (LON:REL) falls as traders question buyback plan ahead of July results
RELX PLC fell Friday. The data and analytics group started its July buyback this week but still traded close to 12-month lows, ahead of first-half results due later this month. RELX shares fell 0.94% to 2,330.93p as of 14:01 BST. The FTSE 100 slipped 0.20% with Reuters market data running behind. RELX moved between 2,323p and 2,380p. Volume hit 922,350 shares, well under its typical 5.13 million.
NatWest Group Plc (LON:NWG) shares slip as Evelyn deal puts attention on capital ratios
NatWest Group Plc slipped 0.38% to 676.00p in London Friday, trading close to other UK banks. The FTSE 100 also moved lower. London markets kept regular hours, with LSE open from 0800 to 1630 BST. NatWest has finished its buy of Evelyn Partners, putting a new focus on the stock. Shares now trade less like a simple rates play. Investors are watching to see if fee growth, cutting costs and using capital will pay off soon enough. The shift is bigger than the earlier soft move—now it's about the whole balance sheet.