LONDON, April 17, 2026, 09:38 BST
FTSE 100 shares dipped early Friday, trailing behind CAC 40 and DAX as traders pulled back on risk ahead of a weekend packed with more Iran diplomacy. London’s blue-chip index fell 0.18% to 10,570.49, giving up some ground after a 0.29% climb the previous day. Paris and Frankfurt both inched higher.
The first round of UK corporate updates is sharpening the divide in the market. Tesco flagged that the conflict is muddying its profit forecast. EasyJet is bracing for a deeper first-half loss, citing a hit from higher fuel bills and softer bookings. Dunelm, meanwhile, pointed to customers shying away from pricier homeware.
Brent crude lingered near $98 a barrel on Friday—enough to keep oil-heavy London stocks from sliding further. BP and Shell were out front on Thursday, pushing higher as Brent surged over 3%, which gave the index some support despite a shaky overall tone.
Workspace shares tumbled roughly 14% Friday after the London office landlord flagged a profit drop for fiscal 2027, citing weaker rents and higher costs. “There will be a step down in profitability,” chief executive Charlie Green said, as the company shifts its business strategy. Reuters
Investors are digesting the news: UK GDP climbed 0.5% in February, the biggest monthly gain since January 2024. That sort of bounce suggested the economy faced the energy shock with some underlying strength. Still, the IMF’s latest forecast cuts Britain’s outlook more steeply than for other major economies, a shift tied to the conflict.
Ciaran Callaghan, who leads European equity research at Amundi, expects first-quarter earnings to hold up, calling them “relatively solid” since, in his words, “activity levels shouldn’t have fallen off a cliff” just yet. But for Ben Ritchie, Aberdeen’s head of developed markets equities, the main concern is management guidance heading into the rest of 2026, he told Reuters. Reuters
London keeps finding itself squeezed by ongoing bid speculation on one side and a thinning pool of listed companies on the other. Shares of Intertek soared up to 14% Thursday after the company shot down EQT’s offer; Panmure Liberum’s Joe Brent flagged a chance for “other possible bidders may emerge.” In a separate move, Bank of Ireland announced plans to seek approval for a London exit, citing minimal trading activity in the city. Reuters
Everything’s hanging on weekend diplomacy and what happens around the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial Gulf shipping lane that traders haven’t been able to ignore. Any sense that negotiations might reopen the route could pull oil lower, easing things for retailers, airlines, and smaller UK names. Without that, the FTSE 100’s traditional energy buffer might not be enough—especially after the International Energy Agency flagged that Middle East supply losses could take up to two years to bounce back.
