Today in the UK stock market: Geopolitical tensions escalate, the UK stock market declines further, and the British pound weakens.

LootboxPhobia · 2026-03-27T18:19:16+00:00

On Friday, the UK stock market continued to decline, and the British pound depreciated, affected by the Middle East situation and a decrease in retail sales. The FTSE 100 index fell by 0.4%, and retail sales decreased by 0.4% month-on-month, but this was better than expected. AstraZeneca's stock price rose by 2.8%, while Harbour Energy dropped more than 5% due to a stock sale.

LootboxPhobia

2026-03-27 18:19:16

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Investing.com - UK stocks extend losses on Friday, sterling weakens, ongoing tensions in the Middle East weigh on market sentiment, and at the same time, the latest regional data show that February retail sales fell and consumer confidence weakened.

As of 12:25 GMT, the FTSE 100 index of blue-chip stocks is down 0.4%, and the pound-to-dollar exchange rate is down 0.4% to 1.3281. Germany’s DAX index is down 1.3% and France’s CAC 40 is down 0.8%.

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According to official data released on Friday, UK retail sales fell 0.4% month over month in February, better than the widely expected 0.7% decline. The February drop follows a revised 2.0% month-over-month gain in January; the previously reported figure was 1.8%. The decline was broad-based, affecting five of the seven major retail categories tracked by the Office for National Statistics.

The Bank of England announced on Friday that it will cut and fix the pricing for its discount window facility, to strengthen its role as an on-demand liquidity tool that is available. These changes aim to support firms’ liquidity management while maintaining incentives for prudent day-to-day operations.

AstraZeneca (ST:AZN) shares rose 2.8%. The company had previously announced that tozorakimab met the primary endpoints in two Phase III clinical trials for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The pharma company reported positive results on Thursday from the OBERON and TITANIA trials, showing that, compared with placebo, tozorakimab reduced the annualized rate of moderate-to-severe COPD acute exacerbations in both the former smoker major population and the overall population.

Harbour Energy (LON:HBR) shares fell by more than 5%. Earlier, German chemicals firm BASF sold 80 million shares of this UK oil producer at a price of 273 pence per share, a 9% discount to the close of the prior trading day. Harbour Energy will not receive any proceeds from this disposal. The FTSE-listed company’s shares were trading at 284.4 pence, rebounding from an intraday low of 273.25 pence; that low matched the placing price.

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