{"id":695183,"date":"2026-07-16T17:15:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T17:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/695183\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T17:15:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T17:15:21","slug":"british-equities-rise-as-economic-rebound-offsets-middle-east-tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/695183\/","title":{"rendered":"British Equities Rise as Economic Rebound Offsets Middle East Tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MT<\/a> MT Newswires -Shutterstock <\/p>\n

London’s FTSE 100 closed 0.39% higher on Thursday as escalating tensions in the Middle East were outweighed by signs of a modest rebound in the UK economy, while investors assessed a fresh batch of corporate updates.<\/p>\n

Britain’s economy returned to growth in May after contracting in April, supported by a rebound in the services sector. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that gross domestic product grew 0.1% month over month, following a 0.1% decline in April and the expected zero growth.<\/p>\n

“We’re still a bit dubious about the UK’s latest growth data. On the face of it, it looks great … Yet there is still an active debate over how reflective this is of the underlying growth picture,” ING said. “More importantly, the impact of the Iran war and the spike in energy prices is likely to show more clearly over the summer. We’d expect growth to slow to 0.1-0.2% in the third quarter, after what’s now likely to be 0.4% in Q2.”<\/p>\n

Speaking of the Iran war, investors were also monitoring reports that Tehran had instructed Yemen’s Houthi movement to prepare to close the Red Sea oil route should the US strike Iranian power infrastructure, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n

“Markets had initially expected flows to normalize following the US-Iran memorandum of understanding signed on 17 June, with a noticeable build-up of ballast LNG carriers entering the Persian Gulf in anticipation of stronger exports. However, those expectations have failed to materialize, and the latest escalation has further reduced the likelihood of a near term recovery,” Rystad Energy said.<\/p>\n

In corporate news, distribution group Diploma plc (DPLM.L) surged 6.00% to become the top performer on the blue-chip index after beating organic revenue growth expectations for the fiscal third quarter and raising guidance for fiscal 2026.<\/p>\n

“Q3 organic revenue growth has remained stronger than expected at 15% (vs 15% in H126, 14% in Q1 and vs 11% forecast) and the FY outlook has been upgraded again, with organic revenue growth now expected at 14% (vs 12% previously) and margins at c.26.5% (vs 25% previously). Balance sheet headroom remains significant and the acquisition pipeline remains strong. This translates into a c.7% upgrade to current consensus and continues the positive EPS momentum we have seen of late,” RBC Capital Markets said, with an outperform rating.<\/p>\n

Experian (EXPN.L) maintained its full-year expectations after total revenue for the fiscal first quarter ended June 30 grew 10% at actual exchange rates and 8% on a constant currency basis. The data and technology company’s stock was down 0.55% at the session’s close. <\/p>\n

In other news, the government nationalized British Steel, noting that steel production plays a “vital role” in the UK economy and needs to be protected. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MT Newswires -Shutterstock London’s FTSE 100 closed 0.39% higher on Thursday as escalating tensions in the Middle East…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,2094,2044,231181,56,1893,54,55],"class_list":["post-695183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-office-for-national-statistics","tag-revenue-growth","tag-tensions-in-the-middle-east","tag-uk","tag-uk-economy","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}