BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The U.K. stock market gained marginal ground in positive territory Wednesday morning on hopes U.S.-Iran negotiations will help reopen the Strait of Hormuz sometime soon. Continued optimism about earnings and easing worries about spending on AI infrastructure contributed as well to the firm undertone.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 12.61 points or 0.08% at 10,891.99 nearly half an hour before noon.
Mining stocks found good support.
Next climbed 5.6%. The fashion and homeware retailer raised its outlook for the third time this fiscal year. Glencore moved up 3.2% after reporting a sharp rise in first-half earnings on the back of higher commodity prices.
Coca-Cola HBC advanced 3.6%. Pearson, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Melrose Industries and 3i Group moved up 2%-2.5%.
Endeavour Mining, Rio Tinto, Polar Capital Technology Trust, Haleon, Centrica, BP, LSEG, Halma, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Compass Group, Hiscox and SSE gained 1.3%-1.7%.
HSBC Holdings shed more than 3%. Metlen Energy & Metals, Vodafone Group, Prudential, Autotrader Group, Burberry Group, Whitbread and Segro lost 1%-1.7%.
Shares of brickmaker Ibstock dropped more than 2% after reporting lower first-half revenue and guiding to the low end of its 2026 profit range.
In economic news, the S&P Global UK Composite PMI rose to 52.2 in July from 49.3 in June, broadly matching the preliminary estimate of 52.1 and signaling the strongest expansion in private sector activity since April.
The S&P Global UK Services PMI increased to 52.1 in July, revised up from the preliminary 51.8 and recovering from June's 48.8, confirming a return to modest expansion following two months of contraction.
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