UK's FTSE 100 rises on utilities, energy boost; Burnham becomes Labour Party leader

Burberry

17/07/2026 17:36

Updates after markets close
FTSE 100 up 0.3%, FTSE 250 down 0.5%
Burberry slides as Middle East conflict hits tourist spending
Andy Burnham becomes British Labour Party leader

    July 17 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 ended higher on Friday as utilities shares rose and energy giants gained, tracking higher crude oil prices amid escalating Middle East tensions, while the focus was on politics as Andy Burnham became the British Labour Party leader. 
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index .FTSE gained 0.3% at 10,600.4 points, while the midcap FTSE 250 .FTMC dipped 0.5% to snap a six-day winning streak. Both indexes, however, clocked weekly gains. 

        The United States 
        struck bridges
         and an airport in Iran, provoking Tehran to respond by hitting a power and desalination plant in Kuwait. 
      
Energy stocks .FTNMX601010 gained 2.1% as oil prices rose  on concerns over supply disruptions.

        Utilities .FTUB6510 rose 2.7%, leading sectoral gains, while food, beverages and tobacco .FTUB4510 added 1.6%. 
      
Higher crude oil prices weighed on travel and leisure .FTNMX405010, which fell 0.9%. 

        Financial stocks were weaker with banks .FTNMX301010 down 0.4%, while investment bank and brokerage services .FTNMX302020 shed 1.5%. 
      
Personal goods .FTNMX402040 fell 5% after Burberry BRBY.L warned that the conflict in the Middle East was hurting tourist spending in Europe, sending shares in the British luxury brand down 6.4% despite strong sales growth in the United States and China during the April-June quarter.
On the political front, Burnham was elected leader of Britain's governing Labour Party, the final step before becoming its seventh prime minister in a decade on a pledge to thwart the rise of the populist Reform UK.
Among other stocks, GSK GSK.L fell 2% after the drugmaker said it would halt development of its experimental treatment for refractory chronic cough after the therapy failed a late-stage trial and missed key efficacy goals across multiple dosages.

(Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Joe Bavier)
((tharuniyaa@thomsonreuters.com))