Weekly review
By Benjamin Chiou
Date: Friday 02 Oct 2026
(Sharecast News) - The FTSE 100 ended up 0.3% at 10,461.95 on Friday.
Equity view
Entain cut its full-year revenue outlook after Brazil banned online sports betting and gaming, dealing a blow to the Ladbrokes and Coral owner in one of its key growth markets.
Keller Group boosted its order book after securing a further $650m contract variation for reconstruction work on the I-40 highway in the US. The additional work takes the geotechnical contractor's total involvement in the project to around $1bn and lifted its order book to £2.4bn.
Chrysalis Investments sold its remaining stake in buy-now-pay-later group Klarna for around £34m, completing its exit from the Swedish fintech following its stock-market listing.
Landsec agreed the £211m sale of 123 Victoria Street in Westminster to SevenCitiesLdn, acting for Seven Capital, as the property group continued to recycle capital from its portfolio.
Vesuvius shares surged after the molten metal flow engineer confirmed it was evaluating a £1.37bn takeover proposal from rival RHI Magnesita.
AstraZeneca agreed to invest $2bn in US-listed Summit Therapeutics as the pharmaceuticals giant looked to broaden its oncology portfolio.
Close Brothers narrowed its pre-tax operating loss but decided against paying a final dividend as the merchant banking group continued with its simplification and cost-cutting programme.
Zigup raised its full-year adjusted pre-tax profit guidance after a better-than-expected start to the year, saying earnings were now expected at the top end of the £163.2m-to-£170m range of market forecasts.
Greggs unveiled plans to overhaul its manufacturing network, potentially resulting in 740 job losses over the next two-and-a-half years. The bakery chain also reported a 7.7% increase in third-quarter sales and said strong cost control meant it now expected a "modestly improved" outcome for 2026.
Saga lifted its full-year outlook after a strong first half, sending its shares sharply higher. Underlying revenues rose 14% to £366.3m, trading EBITDA jumped 35% to £90.9m and underlying pre-tax profit nearly doubled to £46.6m.
Marks Electrical raised its profit guidance after stronger-than-expected first-half profitability, helped by operational efficiencies, fixed-cost optimisation and improved product margins. The online electrical retailer now expects adjusted EBITDA of at least £3.75m for the full year.
Landsec returned to the headlines after agreeing to buy the Metrocentre shopping centre near Newcastle for £516m.
SSE maintained its full-year guidance as it forecast adjusted earnings per share of between 64p and 68p for the first half, with the increasing contribution from regulated networks reducing the traditional seasonality of its earnings.
IP Group said that it had raised around £21m from the sale of 10m shares in Oxford Nanopore Technologies. The science and technology investor, a founding backer of the FTSE 250 sequencing specialist, retained 70.8m shares, representing a 7.23% stake worth around £151.5m.
UK economic news
UK shop price inflation eased slightly in September, according to the British Retail Consortium and NIQ, falling to 1.4% from 1.5% in August. Food inflation slowed to 2.5% from 2.8%, while non-food inflation edged down to 0.8% from 0.9%.
UK mortgage approvals fell to their lowest level in nearly three years in August, Bank of England data showed. Net approvals dropped to 54,900 from a six-month average of 60,100 and below expectations of 56,100, as the effective interest rate on newly drawn mortgages rose to 4.6%.
The UK economy grew faster than previously estimated in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics said. GDP expanded 0.5% between April and June, revised up from an earlier estimate of 0.4%, following growth of 0.6% in the first quarter. Services grew 0.6%, construction 0.8% and production 0.1%.
The UK financial services sector showed signs of stabilising in the third quarter, according to the CBI. Business volumes continued to fall but at a much slower rate, with the balance improving to -5 from -58 in the previous quarter, while profitability and sentiment also recovered sharply.
UK house price growth halved in September, Nationwide said, with annual growth slowing to 0.8% from 1.6% in August. Prices fell 0.2% month on month, leaving the average UK house price at £274,251, as higher borrowing costs and geopolitical uncertainty weighed on the market.
Meanwhile, the UK manufacturing PMI edged up to 51.9 in September from 51.7 in August, marking an eleventh consecutive month of expansion. However, output growth slowed to its weakest in six months as higher energy prices weighed on demand and supply chains remained under pressure.
International events
The US economy added far fewer jobs than expected in September, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Payrolls rose by 29,000, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% from 4.1%. Payrolls had been expected to increase by 84,000 last month, while the unemployment rate was forecast to be unchanged.
The Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.6%, the highest level since 2011 and its fourth increase of the year. Policymakers warned that further tightening remained possible as consumer price inflation remained above target at 3.5%.
Eurozone economic sentiment weakened for the first time in five months in September, with the European Commission's Economic Sentiment Indicator falling 0.5 points to 97.9. Employment expectations also deteriorated, dropping 1.3 points to 97.5.
US consumer confidence weakened in September, while separate JOLTS data showed job openings broadly unchanged at 7.1m in August, with hiring and separations also little changed.
China's manufacturing and services sectors both returned to growth in September. The official manufacturing PMI rose to 50.1 from 49.8, while the non-manufacturing measure increased to 50.2 from 49.0. The private RatingDog manufacturing PMI strengthened to a five-month high of 52.1.
German inflation accelerated more than expected in September as energy prices surged. Consumer price inflation was estimated at 3.3%, up from 2.9% in August and its highest since December 2023, while energy prices jumped 14.9%. Core inflation held at 2.4%.
US inflation firmed in August, with the Federal Reserve's preferred PCE price index rising 0.3% on the month and 3.4% annually. Core PCE increased 0.2% month on month and 3.0% year on year, while consumer spending remained robust, rising 0.9%.
US second-quarter economic growth was also revised sharply higher, with GDP now estimated to have expanded at an annualised rate of 2.2%, compared with the previous estimate of 1.5%, helped by stronger consumer spending and business investment.
Eurozone manufacturing growth picked up in September, with the S&P Global manufacturing PMI rising to 52.9 from 52.7 and new orders growing at their fastest pace since March 2022. However, input and output price inflation also accelerated.
Eurozone unemployment held at 6.4% in August, although the number of people out of work increased by 26,000 on the month to 11.36m. Youth unemployment edged down to 15.0% from 15.1%.
In the US, initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell to 197,000 in the week to 26 September, compared with expectations for a rise to 200,000. Continuing claims fell by 11,000 to 1.7m.
Eurozone inflation accelerated significantly in September, according to preliminary figures from Eurostat, hitting a three-year high as energy prices surged amid continued conflict in the Middle East. The annual increase in the harmonised consumer price index jumped to 3.8% from 3.2% in August, ahead of the 3.6% consensus forecast.
US non-farm payrolls rose by just 29,000 in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% from 4.1%. Payrolls had been expected to increase by 84,000 last month, while the unemployment rate was forecast to be unchanged. The data for August was revised down by 29,000 to show that 133,000 jobs were added, versus the 162,000 previously reported. Meanwhile, the change for July was revised down to show that 10,000 jobs were lost, versus a 21,000 gain previously reported.
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