UK Stocks-Factors to watch on March 23

Bridgepoint

23/03/2026 05:08

March 23 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening down on Monday, with futures FFIc1 down 1.14%.

* IAG: British Airways-owner IAG ICAG.L is likely to abandon its interest in pursuing an offer for Portugal's flag carrier TAP, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

* SPIRE HEALTHCARE: Spire Healthcare SPI.L said late on Friday that buyout talks with private equity firms Bridgepoint BPTB.L and Triton have ended, but it was still in discussions with other parties for a potential sale.

* BP: The Trump administration has lent 45.2 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to oil companies, including BP Products North America, in an attempt to control prices that have spiked to four-year highs due to the war on Iran.

* ECONOMY: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to chair an emergency
meeting
 on the economic fallout from the war in Iran on Monday, with finance minister Rachel Reeves and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey in attendance.

* OIL: Oil prices swung between gains and losses on Monday as investors weighed rising U.S. and Iranian threats over energy facilities.

* GOLD: Gold prices slipped more than 2% on Monday, hitting a nearly four-month low.

* METALS: Copper slid to over three-month lows on Monday, with fresh escalation in the Middle East war keeping oil prices high.

* FTSE: London's main indexes closed lower on Friday and logged their third consecutive weekly decline, as the escalating Middle East war and surging oil prices deepened inflation fears.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: LIVE/

TODAY'S UK PAPERS
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(Compiled by Roshni Srivastava in Bengaluru)

((roshni.srivastava@thomsonreuters.com))