Live Markets: FTSE falls in holiday-thinned trading
01/05/2026 08:53
Adds new blog entry FTSE down 0.5% Most markets closed for Labour Day holiday Japanese yen strengthens sharply Wall Street futures steady Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com FTSE FALLS IN HOLIDAY-THINNED TRADING London and Copenhagen are the only exchanges open in Europe on Friday due to market holidays elsewhere, and both are a touch softer in quiet trade. Britain's FTSE .FTSE is off 0.5%, while the Danish OMXC 20 .OMXC20 is down 0.1%. Shares in NatWest NWG.L are down almost 4% after the British bank reported its results. Citi flagged that non-net interest income missed expectations after excluding notable items, while net interest income was a small miss too. Elsewhere in markets, the yen JPY= strengthened sharply again on Friday, just a day after Tokyo authorities were believed to have intervened to prop up the currency. (Samuel Indyk) ***** EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS: LONDON BEFORE THE BELL: QUIET START CLICK HERE NEVER MIND THE OIL, FEEL THE EARNINGS! CLICK HERE The Magnificent Seven versus the market https://www.reuters.com/graphics/AUTOMATED-20260429/INDEXES-MAG7-COMPARISON-YTD/zdpxggwzbvx/chart.png The strength of the yen https://www.reuters.com/graphics/AUTOMATED-20260430/YEN-VS-DOLLAR-SINCE-1990/klpyllrkdvg/chart.png