U.K. stocks edged downwards on Thursday as investors processed mixed earnings reports and awaited further guidance from Federal Reserve officials regarding future interest rates.
The FTSE 100 index dropped 32 points, or 0.4 percent, to settle at 8,414, following a 0.2 percent increase on Wednesday.
BP Plc, a major player in the oil and gas sector, declined by 2.1 percent, coinciding with its shares going ex-dividend.
Low-cost airline easyJet saw its stock plummet by 6 percent after disclosing a pre-tax loss of £350 million ($443 million) for the first half of the fiscal year, a figure slightly higher than anticipated.
Conversely, telecom giant BT experienced a surge of 11 percent as its newly appointed CEO outlined a strategy to more than double the company’s free cash flow within the next five years.
Publishing firm Future Plc saw its shares soar by 13.7 percent following the announcement of a share buyback program valued at up to £45 million ($57.1 million). This came on the heels of the company reporting a return to growth in the recent quarter.
In contrast, Sage Group, a software company, fell nearly 13 percent, despite presenting a strong performance for the first half of the year.