News 30 March 2026

Etihad Orders 10 Boeing Jets, Raising Talk of Hard-to-Get 787 Slots

Stock Market Today: Live Updates 15.07.2026

LIVEMarkets rolling coverageStarted: July 15, 2026, 4:00 AM EDTUpdated: July 15, 2026, 10:59 PM EDT Sydney $3B Data Centre Project Gets Site Secured July 15, 2026, 10:50 PM EDT. Developers have locked in land for a $3 billion data centre in Sydney, moving the project forward. Securing the site is a key milestone for the build as interest ramps up in data storage and infrastructure in Australia. The project is seen as a sign of strong demand from the digital and cloud sectors. Site of $3bn data centre confirmed BHP Hits Record Pilbara Output as Workers Set for Major Port
July 15, 2026
SSE Shares Jump as Utility Maps Out £29 Billion Grid Push Ahead of RIIO-T3
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SSE Shares Jump as Utility Maps Out £29 Billion Grid Push Ahead of RIIO-T3

SSE on Monday outlined plans for its SSEN Transmission arm, targeting gross capital spend of about £29 billion over the plan period. Net impact for the group, according to investor materials, comes in at roughly £22 billion. RIIO-T3 stands at the center of this—Ofgem’s five-year price control, stretching from April 2026 to March 2031, underpins SSE’s £33 billion investment program. On March 2, SSE gave the green light to Ofgem’s final terms, describing the deal as “investable and deliverable.”
March 30, 2026
Australia Stock Market Slips as Westpac Leads Bank Selloff, Rio Tinto and South32 Surge
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Australia Stock Market Slips as Westpac Leads Bank Selloff, Rio Tinto and South32 Surge

The S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.6% to finish at 8,461 on Monday, after falling as much as 1.5% in early trading. Banks and tech names led the decline, but miners and energy stocks bucked the trend, moving higher as oil and aluminium prices rallied. Investors are feeling the pinch on two sides. Brent crude’s sharp rally has stiffened bets on higher rates, and according to HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham, the longer this conflict drags on, “the more disruptive the shock is expected to be” for growth.
March 30, 2026
NatWest Group Plc Raises Mortgage Rates Again as UK Home Loan Costs Climb
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NatWest Group Plc Raises Mortgage Rates Again as UK Home Loan Costs Climb

NatWest Group plans to bump up mortgage rates again from March 31, covering new business, existing customers, and extra borrowing ranges—just days after its last adjustment landed on March 26. Most purchase and remortgage products are set for a 28 basis-point increase, or 0.28 percentage point, the bank’s intermediary site shows. It’s a tough moment for both NatWest and borrowers. Fresh numbers from the Bank of England on Monday put mortgage approvals at 62,584 for February—that’s a three-month high, pointing to a pick-up in housing demand just before funding costs surged in March and squeezed lenders.
March 30, 2026
Standard Chartered PLC Hires Ex-Deutsche Banker Ole Matthiessen to Lead Digital Assets Push
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Standard Chartered PLC Hires Ex-Deutsche Banker Ole Matthiessen to Lead Digital Assets Push

LONDON, March 30, 2026, 17:12. Standard Chartered has tapped Ole Matthiessen, formerly of Deutsche Bank, to lead its freshly formed transaction services and digital assets division within the corporate and investment bank. The bank said Monday that Matthiessen will take the role from Singapore, reporting directly to corporate and investment bank CEO Roberto Hoornweg.
March 30, 2026
Compass Group Gets BNP Paribas Upgrade Ahead of Dollar Switch on LSE
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Compass Group Gets BNP Paribas Upgrade Ahead of Dollar Switch on LSE

Compass Group shares caught a break Monday. BNP Paribas lifted the British contract caterer to “neutral” from “underperform”, though the target price went lower at 2,150 pence. The rating shift lands just two days ahead of Compass’s planned move to trade its London-listed shares in U.S. dollars instead of sterling. The clock’s ticking for Compass. Sentiment hasn’t fully recovered since February’s drop, even though the company posted a decent first-quarter update. Investors, according to Reuters at the time, worried that AI advances might eat into demand from office customers—tech, finance, and professional services. Those three segments together make up roughly 20% of Compass’s revenue.
March 30, 2026
RELX PLC shares rise as buyback tests whether AI fears have gone too far
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RELX PLC shares rise as buyback tests whether AI fears have gone too far

Shares in RELX PLC edged up 1.9% to 2,438 pence on Monday, climbing from Friday’s close at 2,393 pence, Reuters market data showed. The British information and analytics group outperformed in London trading. Why does the jump matter? RELX still has to persuade investors that artificial intelligence will tighten, not loosen, its hold across law, banking, and science markets. Back in February, the company posted a 9% gain in adjusted operating profit, reaching 3.34 billion pounds, on revenue of 9.59 billion pounds. Finance chief Nick Luff told Reuters the advantage comes from always-updated data and its own algorithms. Rivals Wolters Kluwer and Thomson Reuters got caught up in the same AI-fueled selloff.
March 30, 2026
Prudential plc pushes ahead with buyback as $7 billion return plan takes shape
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Prudential plc pushes ahead with buyback as $7 billion return plan takes shape

Prudential plc on Monday announced it repurchased 379,780 ordinary shares on March 27, paying an average of 10.4349 pounds apiece before moving to cancel them. This trims its overall share count to roughly 2.53 billion. The buyback took place on the London Stock Exchange via JP Morgan Securities. This filing signals Prudential shifting gears—from talking up plans in its March 18 results to actually delivering. Back then, the Asia-focused insurer reported a 12% jump in new business profit for 2025 and projected more than $7 billion in shareholder returns spanning 2024 through 2027.
March 30, 2026
Seplat Energy Stock Climbs as Oil Rally Puts Nigeria Producer’s 2026 Growth Plan in Focus
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Seplat Energy Stock Climbs as Oil Rally Puts Nigeria Producer’s 2026 Growth Plan in Focus

Seplat Energy’s shares in London ticked up Monday, tracking gains across oil and gas names as Brent crude moved past the $115 mark. The Nigerian oil producer was trading at 484.5 pence, up 0.52%, by early afternoon, according to its investor page. The shift is notable: just last month, Seplat rolled out 2026 production guidance at 135,000 to 155,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a metric folding in both oil and gas, after reporting a 148% leap in 2025 output to 131,506. The company also earmarked $360 million to $440 million for capex and plans to drill 17 wells this year. The middle of that range hints at roughly 10% growth.
March 30, 2026
National Grid plc seals £3 billion Eastern Green Link 4 deals as UK grid upgrade speeds up
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National Grid plc seals £3 billion Eastern Green Link 4 deals as UK grid upgrade speeds up

National Grid plc on Monday announced it had secured £3 billion worth of supply-chain deals for Eastern Green Link 4, its planned 2-gigawatt subsea connection between Fife and Norfolk. Siemens Energy landed the converter-station contract, following an earlier £2 billion cable package awarded to Prysmian. This matters for Britain, which needs extra network capacity to send Scottish wind power south, unclog bottlenecks, and rein in mounting constraint costs—fees that stack up when electricity can't reach demand centers. Back in December, Reuters reported that Britain revamped its grid-connection process as the queue swelled with over 700 gigawatts of projects.
March 30, 2026
Toyota ‘Will Not Survive’ Without Change, Koji Sato Warns as China Pressure Builds
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Toyota ‘Will Not Survive’ Without Change, Koji Sato Warns as China Pressure Builds

Toyota’s outgoing chief executive Koji Sato delivered a blunt warning to suppliers at the company’s March 25 Supply Partners Convention: survival isn’t guaranteed without real change. Addressing roughly 700 executives representing 484 firms, Sato said, “unless things change, we will not survive,” according to Automotive News. The message landed as the world’s top automaker faces pressure from Chinese competitors, fresh tech, and tariff shakeups. Timing comes into play here. Kenta Kon steps in as CEO on April 1, part of a management shakeup that Toyota claims will help it move faster as conditions get tougher. The group’s latest numbers back that up: on Monday, Toyota reported a 3.9% dip in global production for February, and worldwide sales slipped 3.3%. Sales
March 30, 2026
BAE Systems plc buyback filing lands as defence orders pile up from the U.S. to Europe
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BAE Systems plc buyback filing lands as defence orders pile up from the U.S. to Europe

BAE Systems plc reported Monday it repurchased 505,128 ordinary shares for cancellation from March 23 to March 27, as part of its ongoing capital return plan. The transactions appeared in a weekly filing to the London market. The timing stands out. Just five days back, the Pentagon announced BAE, Lockheed Martin and Honeywell would ramp up munitions production, planning to quadruple output of seekers — those guidance components that steer THAAD interceptors to their targets — as Washington urges contractors to accelerate manufacturing. U.S. officials have been turning up the heat on defense firms to prioritize factory output over shareholder returns.
March 30, 2026
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA Extends British Airways Middle East Flight Suspensions as Fuel, Safety Risks Rise
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International Consolidated Airlines Group SA Extends British Airways Middle East Flight Suspensions as Fuel, Safety Risks Rise

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA is keeping British Airways flights to Amman, Bahrain, Dubai and Tel Aviv on hold through May 31, with service to Doha paused until April 30. At the same time, the group is adding routes to Bangkok and Singapore as travelers shift away from the Middle East conflict zone. Lufthansa and Air France-KLM are trimming some regional operations as well, highlighting the scale of disruption facing Europe’s top airline groups. What’s changed for IAG is that this isn’t just a brief schedule trim anymore. On Monday, Europe’s aviation safety regulator pointed out that tighter flight corridors—and less predictable routings—are adding new risks. The Iran war has squeezed available airspace, shoving more traffic onto already crowded Asia-Europe
March 30, 2026
GSK plc wins China approval for Exdensur as hepatitis B drug bepirovirsen enters review
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GSK plc wins China approval for Exdensur as hepatitis B drug bepirovirsen enters review

London, March 30, 2026, 14:08 BST. GSK notched up two regulatory milestones in China on Monday: the country gave the green light to Exdensur, its asthma therapy, and kicked off a formal review for bepirovirsen, a hepatitis B hopeful. According to a company filing, Exdensur is now approved in China for severe eosinophilic asthma in patients 12 and up. The bepirovirsen filing covers chronic hepatitis B in adults, GSK said.
March 30, 2026
Unilever PLC Food Business Talks With McCormick Enter Critical Week Ahead of Earnings
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Unilever PLC Food Business Talks With McCormick Enter Critical Week Ahead of Earnings

Unilever PLC kicked off trading in London at 4,500 pence on Monday. McCormick is set to release its first-quarter numbers on March 31, following a Reuters report from March 27 that said any potential merger talks would likely result in Unilever shareholders holding the majority of the new entity. Timing is key here. If this deal goes through, it would be Unilever’s biggest portfolio shakeup since splitting off its Magnum ice cream unit last December. Chief Executive Fernando Fernandez is doubling down on pushing Unilever deeper into faster-expanding beauty, personal care, and wellbeing categories. Still, foods accounted for 26% of turnover in 2025, even as Beauty & Wellbeing and Personal Care outpaced it in growth.
March 30, 2026
Oil Prices Surge as Iran War Widens, Asian Stocks Slide and UK Weighs Emergency Measures
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Oil Prices Surge as Iran War Widens, Asian Stocks Slide and UK Weighs Emergency Measures

Oil prices pushed higher Monday, with Asian equities slipping after Yemen's Houthis struck at Israel and the Guardian published remarks from Donald Trump about taking Iran's oil and targeting Kharg Island, the country's key export terminal. Investors looked unconvinced by diplomatic efforts, with Brent crude set to notch its steepest monthly gain since at least 1988, according to LSEG data, as risk premiums around the Strait of Hormuz remained stubbornly elevated. The impact is no longer limited to commodity traders—it's showing up in what people pay day-to-day. Germany reported March inflation ticking up to 2.8% as energy bills climbed. According to RAC numbers cited by the Guardian, UK petrol is now at 152 pence a litre, with diesel at 181.2
March 30, 2026
Barclays PLC Cancels 21.3 Million Shares Ahead of FCA Motor Finance Decision
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Barclays PLC Cancels 21.3 Million Shares Ahead of FCA Motor Finance Decision

Barclays PLC disclosed Monday it repurchased 21.3 million shares during the last week and plans to cancel them, pushing forward with a £1 billion buyback just ahead of the UK financial watchdog’s announcement on the final motor finance compensation scheme, which is expected after the market shuts. Timing is crucial here, since capital returns are at the core of Barclays’ three-year plan. Back in February, the bank announced a commitment to hand over more than £15 billion to shareholders from 2026 to 2028. That promise, though, now runs up against an unsettled compensation bill tied to UK lenders and motor finance commissions.
March 30, 2026
Lloyds Faces Fresh Car Finance Pressure as FCA Opens Taskforce Ahead of Payout Ruling
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Lloyds Faces Fresh Car Finance Pressure as FCA Opens Taskforce Ahead of Payout Ruling

Lloyds Banking Group found itself back in the spotlight Monday, with UK regulators rolling out a taskforce to target motor finance claims companies—timed just ahead of the Financial Conduct Authority’s expected release of its final compensation rules. On top of that, the bank has a 66 million pound lawsuit hanging over it from upwards of 30,000 borrowers, who say they were mis-sold car loans. Timing is crucial for Lloyds. The bank has already put aside 1.95 billion pounds for the scandal, while the FCA earlier outlined a potential 11 billion-pound hit for the industry—ranking this among the UK’s most expensive consumer finance blowups. Whatever the watchdog decides after markets shut on Monday will set the pace for payouts, determine the
March 30, 2026
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