BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks are turning in a mixed performance on Wednesday with investors reacting to earnings, and awaiting fresh data and trade news for directional clues.
The benchmark FTSE 100 is up 19.60 points or 0.21% at 9,167.41 nearly an hour past noon.
Spirax Group is up 2.1%, extending gains from the previous session. AstraZeneca is up nearly 2%. Fresnillo, Antofagasta and Airtel Africa are gaining 1.6 to 1.8%.
BAE Systems, IAG, Marks & Spencer, Associated British Foods, GSK, Next, Convatec Group and Berkeley Group Holdings are also notably higher.
Beazley is plunging 11.7% after the insurer cut its full-year premium growth forecast. The company has revised its growth guidance to low-to-mid single digits to reflect prevailing market conditions.
The company reported profit before tax of $502.5 million in the first half of 2025 down from $728.9 million in the prior year.
Profit after tax for the period declined to $420.3 million or 65.4 cents per share from $571.6 million or 84.8 cents per share in the previous year.
Persimmon is down by about 2.7%. The housebuilding company reported that its profit attributable to equity holders of the parent for the first half of 2025 declined to 100.0 million pounds or 30.9 pence per share from 110.7 million pounds or 34.3 pence per share in the previous year.
Hiscox, BP, Entain, Barratt Redrow, Bunzl, British American Tobacco, Diageo and Standard Chartered are down 1 to 1.7%.
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