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London close: Stocks sink as Brent crude tops $110 on Trump remarks
By Benjamin Chiou
Date: Wednesday 29 Apr 2026
(Sharecast News) - Another surge in the price of oil and nervousness ahead of central bank decisions and blue chip corporate earnings hammered UK stocks on Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 dropping to its lowest level in nearly a month.
The Footsie fell 1.2% to 10,213.11, having now fallen in seven of the past eight sessions, dropping 4.3% since 17 April. The index now stands at its lowest since 31 March.
Brent crude was 6.0% higher at $110.64 a barrel by the close in London after Donald Trump told aides to prepare for a prolonged blockade, and sought out ways to boost US production to mitigate the ongoing supply issues in the Middle East.
"Iran can't get their act together. They don't know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!," the US president posted on Truth Social, along with an AI-generated image of himself armed with an automatic weapon with explosions in the background.
"This may mark the next phase in the conflict," said Neil Wilson, Saxo UK investor strategist. "Markets are repricing for longer duration of squeezed supply if not a reheating of the conflict. This implies deeper and prolonged disruption to energy flows, and higher inflation. For now markets assume peace talks are going nowhere."
Away from the Iran war, investors were eyeing results from four of the 'Magnificent Seven' across the Pond, with Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms all slated to report.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep the policy rate at 3.50-3.75% later, while the Bank of England and the European Central Bank will make their latest policy announcements on Thursday.
GSK and SJP slump; DCC surges
GSK and St James's Place were the heaviest fallers of the day, dropping 5% and 6% respectively.
GSK was under the cosh despite posting above-forecast first-quarter profit, boosted by robust demand for its specialist HIV and oncology drugs, while St James's Place lost ground as it reported a drop in first-quarter funds under management, citing a decline in global markets.
Haleon also fell 3% as the Panadol owner said a poor cold and flu season had weighed on first-quarter sales, but reiterated full-year guidance.
Heading the other way was DCC which surged 9% as the sales, marketing and support services group confirmed it had received a cash takeover proposal from US investment firms Energy Capital Partners and KKR.
Intertek rallied 4%, having slumped on Monday after saying it rejected a revised takeover proposal from Swedish private equity firm EQT at 5,400p per share, up from 5,150p.
On the FTSE 250, shares in Ceres Power Holdings jumped 25%, continuing their rally from last week, as Goldman Sachs hiked its price target to 670p from 530p.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,213.11 -1.16%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,200.87 -0.89%
techMARK (TASX) 5,813.23 -0.94%
FTSE 100 - Risers
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,880.00p 9.29%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,766.00p 3.72%
Mondi (MNDI) 756.00p 2.61%
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 2,952.00p 2.07%
Rightmove (RMV) 439.30p 1.31%
Barclays (BARC) 431.00p 1.04%
Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 10,980.00p 1.01%
Metlen Energy & Metals (MTLN) 35.04p 0.98%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 8,094.00p 0.97%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,398.50p 0.94%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
St James's Place (STJ) 1,177.50p -5.99%
GSK (GSK) 1,918.00p -5.42%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,027.00p -4.38%
Fresnillo (FRES) 3,112.00p -3.95%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,120.00p -3.58%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,130.40p -3.48%
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (DI) (CCEP) 7,030.00p -3.17%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,098.60p -3.16%
Haleon (HLN) 340.00p -3.08%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 244.50p -2.98%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 621.00p 24.70%
WPP (WPP) 267.90p 3.68%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 41.22p 3.20%
Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 571.00p 2.61%
Hill and Smith (HILS) 2,545.00p 2.41%
North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 348.00p 2.35%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 197.30p 2.23%
Energean (ENOG) 877.50p 2.03%
HICL Infrastructure (HICL) 126.60p 1.93%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 361.60p 1.85%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) 1,478.00p -7.86%
WH Smith (SMWH) 510.00p -6.34%
B&M European Value Retail (BME) 164.00p -5.75%
SSP Group (SSPG) 159.30p -4.61%
THG (THG) 31.50p -4.37%
Rank Group (RNK) 95.50p -4.21%
Grainger (GRI) 157.30p -4.20%
Playtech (PTEC) 374.60p -4.19%
FirstGroup (FGP) 160.40p -4.12%
Partners Group Private Equity Limited. (EUR) (PEY) 8.48p -4.07%
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