LONDON MARKET OPEN: Stocks down, oil rises as US-Iran tensions flare

Fri, 08th May 2026 09:07

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened lower on Friday, after news that UK house price growth decelerated in April and the governing Labour party is suffering heavy local election losses.

Early results saw Labour haemorrhage hundreds of councillors and eight local authorities across England, while Reform, the Greens and Liberal Democrats all made gains, PA reports. Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces further heavy losses as vote counting continues throughout Friday in both English local elections and contests for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd. Notably, Labour is expected to lose the national vote in Wales for the first time in more than a century.

Also in the UK, according to the Halifax house price index, prices declined by 0.1% on a monthly basis as expected to GBP299,313 in April, compared with March's 0.5% decline. On an annual basis, house price growth decelerated to 0.4% for April, compared with a 0.8% increase for March and below the FXStreet-cited consensus for a 0.6% rise.

Meanwhile, the US and Iran have again traded fire in the Middle East, dampening optimism from earlier reports that the countries are making progress towards a permanent deal.

The FTSE 100 index opened down 86.06 points, 0.8%, at 10,190.89. The FTSE 250 was down 140.63 points, 0.6%, at 22,742.09, and the AIM all-share was down 2.23 points, 0.2%, at 816.09.

The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.9% at 1,014.61, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.5% at 19,799.88, and the Cboe small companies was up 0.1% at 18,317.72.

On the FTSE 100, Airtel Africa lost 1.3%, despite reporting double-digit annual growth.

The telecommunications company's revenue rose 30% on-year to USD6.42 billion for financial 2026, while pretax profit more than doubled to USD1.42 billion USD661 million. Airtel also increased its final dividend by 9.2%, to 4.26 US cents per share.

Fellow telecommunications firm BT led the FTSE 100, rising 2.7%, while peer Vodafone rose 0.3%. Concurrently, JPMorgan has raised its price target for BT to 310 pence, maintaining an 'overweight' rating, while Vodafone said it repurchased 3.9 million shares at an average of 117.40p on Thursday.

Meanwhile in the Middle East, Iran's leadership has been branded "lunatics" by Donald Trump after three US destroyers were targeted by missiles, drones and small boats in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US military said the "unprovoked" attacks were successfully intercepted and none of the warships were hit.

In response, strikes were carried out against the "Iranian military facilities responsible", including launch sites and command and control centres. US headquarters said it did not seek escalation but "remains positioned and ready to protect American forces".

Iranian state media said the country's armed forces had exchanged fire with "the enemy" on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, while explosions were also reported elsewhere.

Brent oil was quoted at USD100.84 a barrel early in London on Friday, up from USD97.76 late Thursday.

However, Shell was down 0.7% while BP rose marginally. Fellow oil and gas company Ithaca Energy led the FTSE 250, up 4.3%.

Defence majors were even more firmly in the red, with Babcock down 2.1%, Rolls-Royce down 1.6% and BAE down 1.0%.

In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.9%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.8%.

Germany's trade surplus reduced by much more than anticipated in March amid sharply softer growth of exports, data published by the Federal Statistical Office showed.

The country's trade surplus was EUR14.3 billion in March, down 27% from EUR19.6 billion in February and a much sharper fall than the EUR18.4 billion that had been pencilled in by the FXStreet-cited consensus.

German exports rose 0.5% on-month in March to EUR135.8 billion, after a 3.5% rise in February. Imports meanwhile were up 5.1% in March after growth of 4.9% in February.

Separately, the statistical office reported that German industrial output fell 0.7% on-month In March, worse than February's 0.5% decline, which was revised down from a 0.3% fall.

It sharply underperformed against the consensus of a 0.5% uptick in March.

The pound was quoted lower at USD1.3584 early Friday, compared to USD1.3616 on Thursday. Against the euro, sterling fell to EUR1.1562 from EUR1.1567 a day prior. The euro stood at USD1.1743, lower against USD1.1768. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY156.84, up from JPY156.41.

In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 1.5%.

In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.6%, the S&P 500 down 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.1%.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.38%, widening from 4.36%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.96%, widening/narrowing from 4.95%.

Gold was quoted lower at USD4,712.32 an ounce against USD4,742.97.

Still to come on Friday's economic calendar, the US has nonfarm payrolls in the afternoon.

By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

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