Weekly review
By Josh White
Date: Friday 24 Jul 2026
(Sharecast News) - The FTSE 100 ended the week up 135.96 points, or 1.28%, closing at 10,736.23 on Friday.
Equity view
Operations have resumed at Antofagasta's Los Pelambres copper mine in Chile following a temporary stoppage due to heavy rainfall, the mining group announced on Friday. A period of "intense precipitation and intermittent power outages" started late on 18 July, affecting several regions in Chile, including the north-central Coquimbo region where Los Pelambres is located.
HSBC on Friday said it had agreed to sell its Singapore life and health insurance business to Allianz for $2.1bn in cash. The transaction, expected to close in the first half of next year, includes a 15-year distribution partnership that allows HSBC to offer Allianz products.
Consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser said on Friday that it had agreed to divest its Russian Hygiene business to Arnest Management for an undisclosed sum. Subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions, including relevant UK regulatory approvals, Reckitt expects the transaction to complete during the second half of 2026.
Shares in Renishaw surged on Friday after the measurement and manufacturing systems company reported a strong end to the year, with annual profits expected to rise 31%. Growth accelerated throughout the year, the company said, resulting in record quarterly revenues of £243m in the three months to 30 June, up 27% year-on-year and 18% higher than the third quarter.
Morgan Sindall backed its full-year expectations on Thursday as it posted record half-year results and lifted medium-targets for two of its divisions. In the six months to the end of June, adjusted pre-tax profit rose 21% from the same period a year earlier to £116.1m on revenue of £2.6bn, up 8%. Adjusted earnings per share were 22% higher at 186.1p and the interim dividend was lifted 10% to 55p per share.
Telecommunications giant BT Group said on Thursday that it had made "a solid start to the year", posting adjusted revenues of £ 4.3bn in its first trading quarter, broadly flat year‑on‑year, and adjusted underlying earnings of £2.02bn, down 1% year-on-year as lower broadband and voice margins offset "strong cost transformation". BT Group reported further progress across its fibre and mobile networks, with its FTTP footprint rising to 23.4m premises after a 514,000 quarterly build, keeping it on track to hit its 25m target by December 2026.
Airtel Africa shares were in the red on Thursday morning, even after it reported a 31% increase in first-quarter revenue to $1.85bn as constant currency growth of 21.1% was complemented by currency appreciation across its markets. EBITDA rose 36.6% to $928m, lifting the EBITDA margin to 50.1% from 48.0%, while profit after tax increased 27.0% to $198m and basic earnings per share improved to 4.4 cents from 3.4 cents.
Relx reported first-half revenue of £4.87bn on Thursday, up 7% on an underlying basis, while adjusted operating profit increased 9% to £1.73bn and the adjusted operating margin rose to 35.5% from 34.8%. Adjusted earnings per share grew 11% at constant currencies to 68.6p, while reported pre-tax profit increased to £1.52bn from £1.28bn and reported earnings per share rose 24% to 65.7p.
Convenience foods manufacturer Greencore said on Wednesday that third‑quarter pro forma revenues were up 3.2% at £1.02bn, prompting it to raise its FY26 adjusted operating profit guidance to above market expectations at £234m to £242m. Greencore said the uplift was driven largely by stronger underlying trading across the enlarged business, with volume and mix contributing 2.3% and price/inflation recovery adding 0.9%.
Exploration and production firm Energean said on Wednesday that commissioning of a second oil train on the Energean Power FPSO was completed on 13 July, lifting total liquids processing capacity from 18,000 barrels per day to 31,000 bbl/d and increasing its share of revenues linked to Brent pricing. Energean said liquids output had been successfully tested at rates of up to 21,000 bbl/d, with further testing at higher rates expected in August once Katlan‑related subsea tie‑ins have finished.
Reach reported a 9% fall in first-half revenue to £232.9m on Wednesday as declines in print and digital advertising were partly offset by disciplined cost control, with adjusted operating profit slipping 4.1% to £43.0m. The London-listed publisher improved its adjusted operating margin to 18.5% from 17.5%, generated £48.8m of adjusted operating cash flow and increased adjusted earnings per share to 11.1p, although it recorded a statutory operating loss of £43.5m after impairment, restructuring and amortisation charges.
Dialight said on Wednesday that full-year profit was set to be ahead of its previous expectations following strong sales growth in the first quarter of the new financial year. The company, which provides LED lighting for industrial applications, said first-quarter sales comfortably beat its stated expectations of 3-5%+ sales growth. Gross margin also comfortably exceeded management's ambition of 45%+, with the improvement flowing directly through to increased underlying profitability.
Food services firm Compass said on Tuesday that it had delivered "another strong quarter", posting 7.1% organic revenue growth as net new business accelerated into its 4-5% target range, which it expects to hit for a fifth straight year. Compass said client retention stayed high at 96%, with a strong pipeline underpinning confidence in future growth. Like‑for‑like trends were broadly as expected, with North America seeing a modest lift from the Football World Cup, while international growth eased on lower inflation and sports and leisure calendar effects.
Home improvement retailer Wickes reported like-for-like growth in both its retail and its design and installation units in the second quarter, leaving the firm comfortable with 2026 adjusted pre-tax profit forecasts. Wickes said on Tuesday that Q2 trading continued to build steadily, with group revenue up 2.3% as both retail and design and installation returned to like‑for‑like growth. Retail, which delivered £366m of revenue in Q2, grew 1.8% year‑on‑year, helped by rising customer numbers and a deflationary backdrop that supported volumes. LFL sales edged 0.6% higher, leaving the segment 8.5% ahead on a two‑year basis.
Construction and infrastructure firm Kier Group said on Tuesday that full-year profit and revenue were set to be at the top end of market expectations as strong trading momentum in the first half continued through the second half of the year. In an update for the year to the end of June, the company said that in the second half, its infrastructure segment benefited from continued strong growth in Water projects, supported by good momentum in Highways and Rail, through a full range of design, build and maintenance work.
Mony Group reported first-half revenue of £227.1m on Tuesday, up 6% on a like-for-like basis and 1% on a reported basis, while adjusted EBITDA rose 3% like-for-like to £75.5m. Profit after tax increased 1% to £46.1m, adjusted basic earnings per share rose 5% to 9.7p and the interim dividend was lifted 1% to 3.36p.
Storage specialist Big Yellow reported a rise in first quarter sales as cost cutting offset a slight fall in occupancy. Like-for-like revenue rose 2% to £52.m in the three months to June 30, with occupancy down 0.2 percentage points to 79.2%.
Drugmaker GSK said on Monday that the European Medicines Agency had accepted its submission to update the label for its Bexsero asset, allowing for a single‑dose booster in people aged 10 and over who were previously vaccinated in childhood. GSK said that, if approved, the booster would enable those who received Bexsero as infants to take a single additional dose from age 10 onwards, a move the company believes could help reduce the burden of invasive meningococcal disease in countries with established MenB infant programmes.
Healthcare software firm Craneware said on Monday that it had identified and was responding to a cyber‑security incident involving unauthorised access to part of its data environment. Caneware said its incident response plan had been activated, with the board appointing external cyber‑security and forensic specialists to work alongside its internal IT team and existing security providers.
GCP Infrastructure Investments has completed the sale of two onshore wind projects, the FTSE 250 firm announced on Monday. The closed-end investment firm said day one cash proceeds of around £10.3m had been generated following the sale last month of Winscales Moor and Burton Wold. The two projects, which have a total generating capacity of around 26.5MW, were sold at a 31% premium to the valuation of their net asset value as at March 2026.
Economic news
The UK's private sector returned to growth in July, helped along by the World Cup and the heatwave, according to a survey released on Friday. The flash S&P Global UK PMI composite output index rose to a three-month high of 52.1 from 49.3 in June, coming above expectations for a reading of 49.8. A reading above 50.0 signals expansion, while a reading below indicates contraction.
UK retail sales unexpectedly rose in June thanks in part to warm weather and discounting, according to figures released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics. Sales were up 1% on the month following a 1.2% jump in May, and versus expectations for a 0.3% decline.
UK consumer confidence picked up in July, according to a GfK survey, with the hot weather and England's performance at the World Cup attributed to improved sentiment. The GfK Consumer Confidence Barometer, published with the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM), rose six points over the month to -17, marking the largest monthly increase in confidence since November 2023.
New orders in the manufacturing sector fell in July at the fastest pace in six years, according to a the latest Industrial Trends survey released on Thursday by the Confederation of British Industry. The CBI's total new orders balance fell to -24 from -22 in April, reflecting declines in both domestic orders and export orders.
Consumer sentiment rallied in July, a survey suggested on Thursday, fuelled by England's success in the football World Cup and a stabilising political outlook. According to the latest consumer sentiment monitor from the British Retail Consortium, which measures households' forecasts for the coming quarter, expectations for the state of the economy improved to -37, up from June's -43.
UK consumer price inflation slowed a touch more than expected in June, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics. Inflation eased to 2.6% in the 12 months to June from 2.8% in May. This marked the lowest in 15 months and was slightly below economists' expectations for a smaller dip to 2.7%.
Food inflation slowed to the lowest rate in nearly two years in July, industry data showed on Tuesday. According to Worldpanel by Numerator, like-for-like grocery inflation was 2.6% in the four weeks to 12 July, with prices rising in unprocessed fish, baby formula and nappies and shampoos, but falling fastest in chilled butter and spreads, cold soft drinks and sugar confectionary.
The UK unemployment rate held steady in May, official data showed on Monday, although other indicators continued to point to a softening jobs market. According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK unemployment rate was 4.9% in March to May, unchanged on the previous month and marginally below forecasts for 5.0%.
UK housebuilders posted as many profit warnings in the first half of 2026 as they did during the global financial crisis of 2008, according to the latest 'Profit Warnings' report from EY-Parthenon released on Monday. Housebuilders issued eight profit warnings in H1 - including six in the second quarter - marking the highest first-half total since the start of the pandemic and equal to the number issued in the first half of 2008.
UK consumer confidence picked up in July, a closely-watched survey showed on Monday, as geopolitical tensions eased marginally. The S&P Global UK consumer sentiment index rose to a four-month high of 43.4 from 42.2 in June. Within that, respondents were more confident about their current finances, with a balance of 38.1, and how they expect their finances to pan out in 12 months' time. The forward-looking house finance index rose to 43.3 from 42.8 a month earlier.
International events
Private sector activity across the eurozone grew for the first time in four months in July, according to data out on Friday from S&P Global, driven by a renewed expansion of new orders. The flash reading of the S&P Global eurozone composite purchasing managers' index (PMI) jumped to 51.9 this month after coming in at the neutral, no-growth mark of 50.0 in June.
US President Donald Trump restarted his global trade war on more than 80 nations, using anti forced labour laws to get around a Supreme Court ruling that found his previous package of levies illegal. The measures, which replace a blanket 10% duty, include 50% duties on selected Canadian goods, such as wine, cement, dairy products and sporting equipment, alongside new 10-12.5% levies on imports from around 60 countries.
Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a decelerated pace in the week ended 18 July, according to the Labor Department. Initial jobless claims eased by 22,000 to 187,000, the lowest claim count in almost 60 years and well below expectations of an increase to 212,000.
The European Central Bank on Thursday left its key interest rate unchanged despite the recent rise in oil prices, but acknowledged that the inflationary impact of the Middle East conflict has yet to fully play out. The ECB kept the deposit facility rate at 2.25%, after raising rates by 25 basis points in June for the first time in a year, as was widely expected by the market.
US mortgage applications increased by 1.9% in the week ended 17 July, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, bouncing back from two straight weekly losses. Last week's increase comes despite another period of increasing interest rates, with the benchmark 30-year fixed-mortgage rising four basis points to its highest level since August 2025.
German economic sentiment improved more than expected in July, according to a survey released on Tuesday by the ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim. The ZEW economic expectations index rose to 26.3 from 10.5 in June, coming in above expectations for a reading of 18.0.
The Eurozone's under-pressure construction sector picked up in May, official data showed on Monday. According to first estimates from Eurostat, the official statistical office of the European Union, production in construction sparked 0.4% in May, up from 0.1% in April, and by 0.3% in the wider bloc. Year-on-year, and production jumped 1.2% in the Eurozone and 1.8% in the EU.
Oil prices eased back again on Monday after Iran suggested that it remains open to diplomatic talks with the US. At 1047 BST, Brent crude was down 0.4% at $87.73 a barrel and Brent crude was 1% lower at $81.70 after Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said at a press conference in Tehran: "We have been informed by mediators, we have received messages - without going into details - but the main point is that the diplomatic apparatus has been active in recent days and ideas have been conveyed to us by certain mediators."
China left its key lending benchmarks unchanged on Monday, holding fire on monetary easing despite a sharper‑than‑expected slowdown in second‑quarter growth. The People's Bank of China kept the one‑year Loan Prime Rate at 3.0% and the five‑year LPR at 3.5%, marking a 14th straight month without adjustment. The one‑year rate serves as the benchmark for most loans, while the five‑year rate underpins mortgage pricing.
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