WH Smith (LON:SMWH) high-street sale faces investor focus after TG Jones court delay
TG Jones, which bought WH Smith’s high street stores, was still waiting on a High Court
easyJet (LON:EZJ) stock trails Castlelake offer on deal terms snag
easyJet plc shares remain priced with a takeover discount, after the airline gave Castlelake access to only limited commercial information. The delayed quote showed the stock at 580.2p to sell, 580.6p to
Stock Market Today: Live Updates 14.08.2026
LIVEMarkets rolling coverageStarted: August 14, 2026, 4:00 AM EDTUpdated: August 15, 2026, 3:55 AM EDT NatWest, LSEG, Lloyds picked as top UK shares to buy now August 15, 2026, 3:50 AM EDT. Analysts say NatWest, London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), and Lloyds stand out as top UK picks even with the market near highs. NatWest gets attention for capital returns and a possible 23.9% upside, but the bank could react to an economic slowdown. LSEG offers stable subscription income and a 34.5% return projected by 2027. The company’s diversification helps offset slow IPO activity. UBS backs Lloyds, looking for 8%
Stock Market Today: Live Updates 13.08.2026
LIVEMarkets rolling coverageStarted: August 13, 2026, 4:00 AM EDTUpdated: August 14, 2026, 3:59 AM EDT LSE Lists Citigroup Notes on International Securities Market August 14, 2026, 3:46 AM EDT. The London Stock Exchange has admitted new Citigroup Global Markets Funding Luxembourg S.C.A. notes to trading on the International Securities Market starting August 14, 2026. The listing covers USD and HKD denominated Worst of Fixed Coupon Autocall Notes tied to ETFs, and several Non-Capital Protected Unlisted Citigroup ELIs. Some of these have daily call and knock-in options, with maturities through 2027 and 2028. Investors now get more access to Citigroup’s structured
Stock Market Today: Live Updates 12.08.2026
LIVEMarkets rolling coverageStarted: August 12, 2026, 4:00 AM EDTUpdated: August 13, 2026, 3:59 AM EDT UK GDP Rises in June As Energy Eases, World Cup and Warm Weather Kick In August 13, 2026, 3:47 AM EDT. The UK economy grew more than forecast in June after energy prices stopped climbing during the Iran war, and as the men’s Soccer World Cup and hot weather helped push up GDP. Data out Thursday showed firms gained as these trends drove growth. UK GDP bounced in June, helped by Gulf ceasefire, World Cup and sunshine Antofagasta Profit Jumps on Higher Copper Prices, Lowers
Stock Market Today: Live Updates 11.08.2026
LIVEMarkets rolling coverageStarted: August 11, 2026, 4:00 AM EDTUpdated: August 12, 2026, 3:57 AM EDT Balfour Beatty Jumps 10% as Group Raises Outlook on Better H1 Profit August 12, 2026, 3:57 AM EDT. Balfour Beatty shares jumped 10% after the company lifted its full-year outlook, citing stronger first-half numbers. Underlying profit climbed 42% to £153 million. US construction improved and power transmission demand stayed high. Support Services made £66 million in profit, helped by National Grid and Scotland projects. The order book stands at £22.9 billion with £1.6 billion net cash. Interim dividend is up 12% to 4.7p. Balfour has
Stock Market Today: Live Updates 10.08.2026
LIVEMarkets rolling coverageStarted: August 10, 2026, 4:00 AM EDTUpdated: August 11, 2026, 3:59 AM EDT LSE Opens Trading for New Securities Including Bitcoin and Gold Products on August 11, 2026 August 11, 2026, 3:56 AM EDT. London Stock Exchange admitted several new securities to trading on August 11, 2026. Names included 21Shares Bitcoin exchange traded products (ETPs), Akademiska Hus 4.75% Senior Unsecured Notes due 2037, and Amundi Physical Gold ETC Securities. Other listings are CoinShares Ethereum Staking ETP, Invesco Physical Gold and Silver ETFs, and iShares Digital Assets Bitcoin ETP. The exchange also saw Inter-American Development Bank 5% Notes due
Stock Market Today: Live Updates 09.08.2026
LIVEMarkets rolling coverageStarted: August 9, 2026, 4:00 AM EDTUpdated: August 10, 2026, 3:59 AM EDT ASX Down 0.33% as Brent Climbs and Westpac Drops 5% August 10, 2026, 3:52 AM EDT. The S&P/ASX 200 eased 0.33% with Brent crude closing in on $84 a barrel. Westpac Banking Corp dropped over 5% after posting a AU$1.8 billion quarterly profit. The earnings number didn’t lift the mood as higher oil prices hit the wider market. Analysts are watching the energy side and tracking signals out of the major banks. ASX Slips As Oil Rises And Westpac Stumbles ASX 200 Ends Down 0.3%
Stock Market Today: Live Updates 08.08.2026
LIVEMarkets rolling coverageStarted: August 8, 2026, 4:00 AM EDTUpdated: August 9, 2026, 3:59 AM EDT FTSE 100 laggards Diageo, Sage, Legal & General jump in ISA portfolio August 9, 2026, 3:45 AM EDT. Diageo, Sage, and Legal & General, once called ‘Zombie’ stocks in the FTSE 100, have each bounced from March lows-Diageo up 31%, Sage 29%, Legal & General 33% in a Stocks and Shares ISA. Diageo has laid out FY26 plans to invest further in Guinness, try for more ready-to-drink sales, and cut costs. Sage posted 11% revenue growth, mostly from North America, stuck to its 9%+ organic
Tate & Lyle stock spread stays wide following Ingredion deal as ex-div maths puts 7.7% gap in focus
Tate & Lyle PLC is set to return to trading next week, but traders will be watching it as a takeover play instead of a regular food-ingredients name. Shares finished Friday at 559p, leaving them 36p back from Ingredion Incorporated’s 595p all-cash offer, and 42.8p under the value an acquirer would get after the final dividend went ex-div. Arb funds are looking at a cleaner number of about 601.8p here: 595p cash, plus an interim dividend up to 6.8p if paid. The 13.2p final dividend comes July 31, but holders needed to be on the register by the June 19 record date, following the ex-div on June 18.
Beeks Financial Cloud (LON:BKS) stock trails peers as wide spread blunts June deal run
Beeks Financial Cloud Group Plc is trading like a thin small-cap even after a June sales run that would be material for a company with a market value close to £133 million. The London Stock Exchange was open at the time of publication, with standard hours of 0800 to 1630 BST. AJ Bell showed Beeks at a 195p sell price and 210p buy price, with an open of 202.5p and volume of 10,797 shares. Hargreaves Lansdown showed the same bid and offer, while the latest LSE public extract showed volume of 32,299 shares. Even the higher figure was less than one-quarter of the 134,000-share 60-day average in the LSE/FTSE Russell sheet dated July 2.
Glencore (LON:GLEN) gains as coal and copper boost takes focus off iron ore pressure
Glencore plc gained on Friday with the FTSE 100 down. The stock traded 0.61% up at 513.90p as of 11:01 BST; the FTSE 100 dropped 0.32% to 10,618.48 at about the same time. London Stock Exchange trading ran as usual. The live quote feed made the comparison obvious:
Lloyds trades at about 2x tangible book with car-finance review pause giving buyback window
Lloyds Banking Group plc ticked up on Friday, reaching a new year high. Shares are now near 2x their last stated tangible net asset value per share, putting the focus on whether the valuation still makes sense at these levels. The stock was last seen at 114.80 pence as of 09:21 BST, up 0.13%. It moved between 114.65p and 115.45p so far today. A delayed AJ Bell snapshot also showed 115.45p as both the trade high and year high. Market cap was listed at £66.81 billion. London Stock Exchange hours are 8:00 to 16:30, so the market was open then.
Rolls-Royce trades close to highs as buyback leeway narrows ahead of July earnings
Rolls-Royce Holdings plc goes into its July results with a clear share buyback figure on the books. By looking at daily data in its July 1 filing, the company bought 4,007,376 shares between June 23 and June 29 at an average price of about 1,409p, or around £56.5 million. Shares traded near 1,455p on Thursday morning, so that means last week's buys were roughly 3.3% under the market price. Rolls-Royce’s buyback gap has widened. The company said it has bought 74,601,999 shares so far in its active programme at a weighted average price of 1,212.92p. That price is almost 20% under Thursday’s level, and the buybacks total about £905 million, or 39% of the £2.3 billion programme outlined in its
WH Smith (LON:SMWH) high-street sale faces investor focus after TG Jones court delay
TG Jones, which bought WH Smith’s high street stores, was still waiting on a High Court decision over its rescue plan on Tuesday after a judge delayed ruling, The Telegraph reported. The judge warned the chain may not be able to cover bills if the restructuring isn’t approved. The investor angle is that the court dispute now covers more than just rent. It’s turned into a question of how fast a 233-year-old high-street brand shed value after leaving a listed travel retailer and moving under a new name. TG Jones warned that administration is likely if the plan fails.
easyJet (LON:EZJ) stock trails Castlelake offer on deal terms snag
easyJet plc shares remain priced with a takeover discount, after the airline gave Castlelake access to only limited commercial information. The delayed quote showed the stock at 580.2p to sell, 580.6p to buy, off 0.51% for the day. Shares opened at 587p and closed previously at 583p. The discount figure is what investors are watching. Castlelake put forward a fourth offer at 650p a share in cash. easyJet turned it down, calling it too low, but said more access to data could bring a “more attractive proposal”.
Glencore Drops Almost 5% in London as Fed Rate Moves Hit Copper Stocks
Glencore shares were down about 4.6% at around 533 pence early Tuesday in London, while the UK market slid 0.8%. Anglo American gave up 5.5%, Antofagasta, which is focused on copper, dropped 6.6%. The fall ran across the sector. Glencore is still about 94% higher over the past 12 months. Metals and other growth-linked assets dropped as markets priced more U.S. rate hikes. Europe’s basic-resources index slumped 3.3%, leading sector losses. The STOXX 600 was down nearly 0.9%. Traders were betting on around 50 basis points of rate hikes by year-end—a basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Persimmon share price falls 6% after ex-dividend as UK rate worries return
Persimmon Plc shares fell about 6.2% on Thursday and ranked among the FTSE 100’s weakest performers as UK housebuilders gave back part of the previous session’s rally. The rate-sensitive homebuilding index dropped 2.4%, against a 0.87% decline in the blue-chip benchmark. The screen move looks worse than the fresh selling. Persimmon began trading without entitlement to its 40-pence final dividend — “ex-dividend” means a new buyer will not receive that payment. Adjusting Wednesday’s 1,119-pence close for the distribution gives a comparable starting point of 1,079 pence, making the underlying fall about 2.6%.
Imperial Brands stock slips 0.9% with £1.45bn buyback underway
Imperial Brands was down around 0.9% at 2,754 pence by midday Thursday, after the stock fell on Wednesday as well. Shares have dropped about 2% since closing at 2,809 pence on Tuesday, with trading on Thursday in a range between 2,748 pence and 2,788 pence. The drop tracked the wider London market and didn’t look like a new company-specific slide. The FTSE 100 traded down 0.94% at 10,410.01 at 10:16 GMT, with financials and materials among the weakest ahead of the Bank of England decision.
IQE stock climbs after Tower Semiconductor supply deal highlights AI data-centre orders
IQE shares traded higher in London on Wednesday after the Welsh semiconductor group announced a supply deal with Tower Semiconductor, citing demand from AI data centers. The stock held gains through the session. The AIM-listed stock gained 1.43% to 55.79 pence by 13:03 BST, after starting at 55.90p and hitting a session high of 59.40p, according to Google Finance. AJ Bell data at 12:48 BST showed a bid-offer range of 55.50p-55.80p, with more than 22.8 million shares traded.
UK & AU Stock Market Today: Live Updates 08.06.2026
LIVEMarkets rolling coverageStarted: June 8, 2026, 4:00 AM EDTUpdated: June 9, 2026, 3:59 AM EDT Lloyds Shares Show Robust Dividend Growth and Positive Profit Forecasts June 9, 2026, 3:59 AM EDT. Lloyds Banking Group’s shares have surged 29% in the past year and 105% over five years, backed by steadily rising dividends. The FTSE 100 bank has increased dividend payouts annually, with forecasts predicting a 2025 dividend of 3.65 pence per share, up 15.1% year-on-year. Despite a 2024 profit dip to £6 billion due to regulatory costs and rising expenses, Lloyds posted a solid £7.4 billion in 2023 pre-tax profits.
ASX Faces Rebound, Cost Shock and Trial Timing Over Long Weekend
ASX Ltd is steady going into the holiday week, with shares ending Friday at A$47.68, up 1.53%. The market is closed Monday for the King’s Birthday, as shown on ASX’s trading calendar, which marks June 8 with no settlement. The next open session and test for the stock is set for Tuesday. The question is pressing now as the stock tries to stabilize after its May drop. Investors face a soft local market when they come back. The S&P/ASX 200, the main Australian blue-chip index, closed down 0.70% at 8,625.10 on Friday, hit by weakness in banks and miners. ASX Ltd finished higher.