London midday: FTSE touch lower as miners fall, software stocks rally
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Friday 14 Aug 2026
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still a smidgen lower by midday on Friday, failing to make any gains despite a fresh high for the S&P 500 after another soft US inflation reading eased concerns about a rate hike in September.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.1% at 10,764.97, while Brent crude was up 0.2% at $87.24 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was up 0.7% at $81.78 after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said US forces could maintain an indefinite blockade of Iranian ports.
Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said: "While European markets were in a holding pattern at the end of the week, their performance has generally been good so far this year, with investors having little reason to grumble.
"The FTSE 100 pulled back slightly on Friday as weakness in miners, pharma, tobacco and banks acted as a headwind. Oil prices are showing no sign of easing back after the recent Middle East conflict-driven spike, which gives investors reason to take stock of events and recalibrate portfolios based on their views of what could happen next."
In equity markets, miners Antofagasta, Glencore, Anglo American and Rio Tinto were among the worst performers on the FTSE 100, while precious metals miner Fresnillo also lost its shine.
Diversified Energy fell as it confirmed it has had preliminary discussions about a possible acquisition of oil and gas company Birch Resources. Talks are ongoing and remain at an early stage and no agreement has been reached, it said.
The statement came after Bloomberg reported that Diversified was in advanced talks to buy Elliott Investment Management-backed Birch for more than $1.7bn in cash.
On the downside, GB Group tumbled as it cut revenue guidance after second‑quarter trading in its Americas Identity unit weakened, with higher‑than‑expected volume attrition at several key customers holding back growth.
On the upside, Experian shot to the top of the FTSE 100, lifted by a Reuters report suggesting that private equity firm Silver Lake is in talks to buy US IT software provider Workday in a deal that would rank among the largest software buyouts in history. Sage and Relx also gained.
Aviva rose as the insurer reported a 24% jump in first-half operating profit to £1.33bn and said it was making very good progress with the integration of Direct Line.
IG Group advanced as RBC Capital Markets reiterated its 'outperform' rating on the stock as it argued it was oversold on news of its acquisition of US prediction markets operator Underdog.
Michael Page shot to the top of the FTSE 250 after an upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral' at UBS, which lifted the price target to 235p from 180p.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,764.97 -0.07%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 24,866.29 0.12%
techMARK (TASX) 6,123.43 -0.04%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Experian (EXPN) 2,993.00p 6.47%
The Sage Group (SGE) 1,059.00p 4.33%
Relx plc (REL) 2,587.00p 4.05%
Entain (ENT) 565.00p 3.85%
Autotrader Group (AUTO) 540.60p 2.74%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,960.00p 2.38%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 1,362.00p 2.03%
Computacenter (CCC) 5,025.00p 1.86%
Pearson (PSON) 1,211.00p 1.51%
Prudential (PRU) 1,032.00p 1.38%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,561.00p -4.90%
Glencore (GLEN) 545.70p -2.57%
GSK (GSK) 1,812.50p -2.34%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,831.00p -1.94%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,516.00p -1.61%
Fresnillo (FRES) 2,829.00p -1.50%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 7,049.00p -1.47%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,615.00p -1.14%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 386.30p -1.10%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 4,220.00p -1.03%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Michael Page (PAGE) 208.60p 7.08%
Hays (HAS) 68.95p 4.88%
Savills (SVS) 1,132.00p 4.41%
HGCapital Trust (HGT) 424.00p 3.92%
Trainline (TRN) 260.20p 3.67%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 945.00p 3.50%
Rank Group (RNK) 109.20p 3.40%
Rightmove (RMV) 506.80p 3.34%
Applied Nutrition (APN) 343.00p 2.77%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 283.00p 2.68%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
GB Group (GBG) 169.80p -26.72%
Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 425.00p -9.92%
RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 2,960.00p -2.95%
International Workplace Group (IWG) 177.40p -2.52%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 251.20p -2.41%
Schroder Asia Pacific Fund (SDP) 824.00p -2.14%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 945.00p -1.97%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 498.20p -1.85%
Vietnam Enterprise Investments (DI) (VEIL) 715.00p -1.52%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 4,045.00p -1.44%
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