London, July 6, 2026, 18:04 BST
- FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) slipped 0.3% to 10,651.8 and FTSE 250 (INDEXFTSE:MCX) dropped 0.2%.
- Precious metal miners dropped 2.2% and pharma and biotech shares slid 2.1%. Both AstraZeneca plc (LON:AZN) and GSK plc (LON:GSK) traded lower.
- easyJet plc (LON:EZJ) gained 9.3%. The stock finished at 610p, still 11.6% under Castlelake’s 690p offer.
- The FTSE 100 finished 0.9% under AJ Bell’s forecast for the end of 2026 and 3.3% below UBS’s base case for the end of the year.
London trade was done for the day at this point; the LSE runs from 0800 to 1630 BST on weekdays. The decline wasn’t across the board. Losses in several bigger names weighed on the index, but some deal names and banks limited the drop.
The FTSE 100 ended down 27.26 points at 10,651.77, according to market-data streams. The index hit 10,733.39 earlier in the day but finished around 2.6% under its all-time high from February 2026 at 10,934.94. It’s still up 20.95% over the last year.
One thing investors may be missing is how little room some forecasts see for cheap gains at the index level. AJ Bell’s 10,750 target for the end of 2026 is now less than 1% above Monday’s close, and UBS’s 11,000 year-end base case sits just 3.3% higher. That shifts focus to earnings upgrades, buybacks and individual stock deals rather than hoping for a straightforward UK re-rating.
| Market line | Monday level or move | Investor read |
|---|---|---|
| FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) | 10,651.8, down 0.3% | Indexes stayed near highs, but select sectors pulled the market off peak. |
| FTSE 250 (INDEXFTSE:MCX) | down 0.2% | M&A activity offered a lift, though not enough for the mids. |
| Precious metal miners | down 2.2% | Group slipped as gold and currency moves weighed. |
| Pharma and biotech | down 2.1% | Key names AstraZeneca (LON:AZN), GSK (LON:GSK) dragged down sector. |
| easyJet (LON:EZJ) | 610p, up 9.28% | Stock ran up, but stayed short of 690p, with execution risk priced in. |
AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) lost 2.5% and GSK (LON:GSK) slipped 1.6%, according to Reuters. Trading Economics put AstraZeneca off 2.46% at 14,100p, valuing it around 289.89 billion pounds—enough heft to weigh on the rest of the market. HSBC Holdings plc (LON:HSBA), Shell plc (LON:SHEL), and BAE Systems plc LON:BA gained 1.01%, 0.73%, and 2.20%.
easyJet (LON:EZJ) showed both a strong buy and a high risk trade today. The airline said its board is ready to back Castlelake’s 690p per share offer if it goes firm, while the UK set a new “put up or shut up” deadline for Aug. 3. Shares finished at 610p, so that’s a 13.1% implied pop to the offer and an 11.6% gap to the cash price. Investegate
“There’s plenty of U.S. money but also Chinese money that looks at some of the assets,” David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, told Reuters. That’s in line with how things look on the day: foreign buyers are still looking at London assets, but with easyJet, the low offer premium shows the market is waiting to see if ownership rules and a deal will actually happen. Reuters
ITV plc (LON:ITV) has agreed to sell its Media and Entertainment arm to Sky, owned by Comcast Corp NASDAQ:CMCSA, in a deal worth up to 1.6 billion pounds. ITV expects to return about 950 million pounds to shareholders after the deal closes, which it said should happen in the second half of 2027.
ITV chairman Andrew Cosslett said the deal “will deliver a significant cash return to shareholders.” CEO Carolyn McCall said ITV Studios will get a 2.1 billion-pound minimum spend in a long-term supply agreement. ITV shares closed unchanged, Reuters reported. Investegate
The domestic numbers gave builders little relief. Britain’s S&P Global UK Construction PMI crept up to 38.4 in June from May’s six-year low of 38.2, still deep in contraction territory below the 50 mark. Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, pointed to “recent new contract awards” and said an “expected improvement” might be coming. House building just had its steepest drop of 2026 so far. Reuters
Rates kept their spot in the UK market focus. The Bank of England holds its Bank Rate at 3.75%, with the next call set for July 30. Reuters reported traders see about a 70% chance of only one UK rate hike in 2024, as a drop in oil back toward $70 a barrel added to the mood.
| Forecast yardstick | Target or forecast | Gap vs 10,651.8 close |
|---|---|---|
| AJ Bell says FTSE 100 could end 2026 at | 10,750 | +0.9% |
| UBS sees base case for end-2026 at | 11,000 | +3.3% |
| UBS puts its June 2027 base at | 11,300 | +6.1% |
| UBS June 2027 upside target is | 12,300 | +15.5% |
| Trading Economics end-quarter model | 10,484.81 | -1.6% |
| Trading Economics 12-month forecast | 9,906.93 | -7.0% |
UBS told clients UK market gains were led by a small group of stocks, noting the FTSE 100 rose 17% in the last year while the median name did 8.8%. UBS said valuations looked fine at 12.4 times forward earnings, just under the long-run median of 12.8, but said it is sticking with a Neutral call on the UK, pointing to stronger chances elsewhere.
The Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report is out at 0930 GMT on Tuesday. Barclays said a carve-out for gilts from leverage rules could mean banks buy up to 150 billion pounds more and send average yields down by 0.2 percentage points. Lloyds fixed-income analysts Karim Henide and Sam Hill wrote that “supporting the bid for gilt issuance” is now on the Treasury’s radar. Former regulator David Aikman pushed back, saying you shouldn’t “take the batteries out of the fire alarm.” Reuters
