On Wednesday, UK stocks experienced a slight decline as investors prepared for the upcoming autumn budget and the U.S. Presidential election on November 5th. The FTSE 100 index dropped by 17 points, or 0.2%, reaching 8,289, following a 0.1% decline the previous day.
Notably, Lloyds Banking Group saw a rise of approximately 1% after its third-quarter profits surpassed predictions. Reckitt Benckiser also made gains, rallying nearly 3% as the consumer goods company reported a smaller drop in third-quarter underlying sales than analysts had anticipated.
In the homebuilding sector, Barratt Developments and Redrow both saw a 3% increase. The company announced it is optimistic about solid trading activity over the past weeks, helped by more stable market conditions.
Fresnillo, a miner of precious metals, experienced a 1.2% boost following robust performance in third-quarter production. Meanwhile, advertising giant WPP reported a better-than-forecasted 0.5% increase in like-for-like organic revenue for the third quarter, resulting in a 3.3% rise in its shares.
