Early market roundup: Stocks open lower but Rentokil shines before PMI
Blue chip stock indices in London, Paris and Frankfurt opened lower on Thursday amid an avalanche of UK earnings and trading updates, with shares in FTSE 100’s Rentokil Initial up significantly.
The FTSE 100 index opened down 30.06 points, 0.3%, at 10,537.59. The FTSE 250 was down 86.77 points, 0.4%, at 22,809.90, and the AIM all-share was down 3.14 points, 0.4%, at 791.42.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.1% at 1,048.98, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.3% at 20,061.32, and the Cboe small companies was down 0.1% at 18,001.85.
Rentokil led the FTSE 100 by a considerable margin, climbing 8.9%.
The pest control firm’s pretax profit fell to $390 million in 2025, but revenue rose to $6.91 billion and Rentokil increased the final dividend by 4.6% to 8.24 cents. It said it expects this year’s results to be in line with market expectations.
easyJet led the laggers, falling 4.1%, as the Middle East conflict continues. International Consolidated Airlines was not far behind, losing 2.8%.
On the FTSE 250, PageGroup plummeted 18%.
The recruitment firm slashed its full-year final dividend to 3.21 pence from 11.75p the year before, while pretax profit fell to £16.2 million from £49.1 million.
Additionally, PageGroup said that while it was confident in its strategy, the ‘market outlook remains uncertain’.
In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.6%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.5%.
The pound was quoted lower at $1.3326 early on Thursday in London, compared to $1.3365 at the equities close on Wednesday. The euro stood lower at $1.1597, against $1.1634. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at JP¥157.23 compared to JP¥157.01.
In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 1.9%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.4%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.4%.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.5%, the S&P 500 up 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.3%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.12%, widening from 4.07%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.76%, widening from 4.71%.
Brent oil was quoted higher at $83.69 a barrel early in London on Thursday from $80.75 late Wednesday.
Gold was quoted higher at $5,166.46 an ounce against $5,142.25.
Still to come on Thursday’s economic calendar, is the construction PMI from the UK. Also, the eurozone has retail sales, before the US releases weekly jobless data.
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