LONDON, June 6, 2026, 18:02 BST
FTSE 100 closed up a bit on Friday, but that didn’t help it avoid a weekly loss. Rate concerns, worries over inflation linked to the Middle East, and a selloff in tech stocks left traders cautious. The FTSE 250 dropped more, putting a bigger hit on stocks tied to the UK market.
Friday’s 0.07% rise isn’t the key story. Markets want to see if company price plans cooling off will be enough to keep the Bank of England from a more aggressive stance. The Bank’s Decision Maker Panel showed firms are looking for price growth of 4.0% over the next year, down from 4.4% in April. Rob Wood at Pantheon Macroeconomics said second-round effects look “muted for now.” Reuters
London market action showed a divide. Blue-chips, the big, established names, outperformed mid-caps. FTSE 250 firms, which usually lean more on the UK economy, struggled more. Fidelity calls the FTSE 100 the 100 top public companies by size, and the FTSE 250 the next 250.
London markets were closed Saturday. The London Stock Exchange runs regular sessions Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. BST.
FTSE 100 ends Friday at 10,368.05, a gain of 7.73 points on the day but still down about 0.4% from last week’s close at 10,409.28. The FTSE 250 finished at 23,060.74, falling 1.04% on Friday and roughly 1.6% for the week.
Halifax reported house prices slipped 0.1% in May, logging a third straight monthly decline. Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages at Halifax, said “stretch affordability” is still an issue as higher borrowing costs linger, even with some cuts to mortgage rates. The domestic data were not clean. Reuters
Construction kept falling. The construction PMI dropped to 38.2 in May, the weakest since May 2020. Anything under 50 signals contraction. Tim Moore at S&P Global Market Intelligence said “fuel surcharges” and pricier energy-heavy raw materials are still in the supply chain. Reuters
Raspberry Pi soared 27.6% to a new high after it raised profit guidance. The move came as STOXX 600 slipped 0.3% Friday and dropped 0.5% over the week, with tech stocks losing steam and Middle East worries still weighing.
Bodycote shares tumbled up to 12% after Apollo Global Management dropped its 1.52 billion pound takeover bid. Berenberg’s Andrew Simms said at least the move pointed out that the market “undervalues the quality” of Bodycote’s businesses. Reuters
S&P 500 slid 2.64% and Nasdaq sank 4.18% on Friday, hit by a U.S. jobs report that dashed bets on Fed rate cuts. Ryan Detrick at Carson Group said, “the dam just broke today,” pointing to the end of a nine-week equity rally. Reuters
London traders have a packed schedule this week. April GDP figures from the Office for National Statistics will land June 12 at 7:00 a.m. The Bank of England meets June 18, with the Bank Rate holding at 3.75%. Funds that track indexes will get ready for FTSE Russell’s shuffle, as Aberdeen Group, Computacenter, and Investec join the FTSE 100 from June 22. They will take the spots of Berkeley Group, Mondi, and Rightmove.
But the risk is clear: new pressure on oil might flip better company-pricing numbers back into a rate scare, and slower local demand would probably hit mid-caps fastest. May’s services PMI dropped below 50. Moore said anxiety about a “prolonged spike in inflationary pressures” was still dragging on business confidence. Reuters
