London's FTSE 100 fell 0.17% on Wednesday's close as investors assessed the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's latest report ahead of the monthly gross domestic product data due the next day.
The OECD said the UK economic growth is expected to slow to 0.9% in 2026 from 1.4% in 2025 before recovering to 1.1% in 2027, while annual headline inflation is projected to rise to 3.7% this year before easing to 2.4% the following year. The organization said stronger productivity growth, fiscal discipline and structural reforms would be needed to raise living standards.
On the corporate front, private equity investor Intermediate Capital Group (ICG.L) was the top gainer on the blue-chip index, rising 4.75% after its fee-earning assets under management stood at $88.18 billion as of June 30, compared with $86.52 billion as of April 1.
Housebuilder Barratt Redrow (BTRW.L) gained 4.28% after its adjusted pretax profit for the 52 weeks ended June 28 aligned with market expectations. The company also launched a share buyback program of up to 386 million pounds sterling to reduce its share capital.
"Barratt Redrow's FY26 trading update is solid, with completions of 17,667 (including JVs) at the upper end of guidance and adjusted PBT in line with consensus of GBP559.5m," RBC Capital Markets said. "The headline, however, is the capital allocation shift: GBP400m to be returned in FY27 primarily through buybacks, replacing the ordinary dividend with a nominal GBP0.01 per share. This directly addresses shareholder pressure for capital returns at a 36% discount to [tangible net asset value], and we expect the shares will perform well today."
On the downside, miner Antofagasta (ANTO.L) lost 2.52% after reporting a yearly decline in its interim copper output to 285,000 tonnes from 314,900 tonnes. The company kept its full-year copper production guidance in the range of 650,000 tonnes to 700,000 tonnes.
"Antofagasta has had a slow start to the year with volumes at Los Pelambres missing expectations on 7kt copper stuck in inventory due to concentrate pipeline maintenance. Guidance for the year has been maintained for production, Los Pelambres should still be seeing improving grades and throughput, so the required pick-up in run-rate is manageable if it comes through," RBC said in another note.
Geopolitical tensions remained in focus after the US launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iranian military sites following the reimposition of a naval blockade on Iranian ports. Tehran responded with attacks on US military facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, while also threatening to disrupt additional regional energy export routes, keeping investors wary of the potential impact on global oil supplies and inflation.