London's FTSE 100 closed 0.35% higher on Wednesday as investors assessed political developments in the UK, including King Charles III's Speech and cabinet resignations, while awaiting gross domestic product and other economic data due on Thursday.
"During yesterday's cabinet meeting, PM Starmer reiterated his call that he would stay on despite the number of [members of parliament] wanting Starmer to quit crossing the 81 required to mark a leadership challenge if they coalesced around a candidate. It's important to note that any calls or letters for Starmer to resign don't trigger anything unless MPs explicitly back an alternative candidate. So even as four ministers resigned from government yesterday, it does look increasingly possible that he will see this through for now, with Polymarket odds of Starmer leaving by June 30 down to 33% this morning from as high as 80% on Monday night," Deutsche Bank Research said.
In parliament, the King's Speech outlined the government's legislative agenda for the parliamentary session, including stronger ties with the European Union and measures focused on economic growth, housing, energy security, and public sector reform.
In corporate news, assurance, testing, and certification company Intertek Group (ITRK.L) halted its strategic review as it plans to facilitate Swedish private equity giant EQT with confirmatory due diligence ahead of a final takeover agreement. The stock closed at one of the top spots on the blue-chip index, gaining 5.28%.
"Since we cannot be certain that a firm offer will follow the confirmatory due diligence set to occur through the [put up or shut up] period (likely now extended to 11th June), we lower our rating to Sector Perform [from outperform]," RBC Capital Markets said.
Meanwhile, Spirax Group (SPX.L) was down 1.74% after maintaining its 2026 guidance for organic growth in group revenue while flagging a "weak [industrial production] environment." For the first four months ended April 30, the British thermal energy and fluid technology company logged mid-single-digit organic growth in group revenue, in line with expectations.
Next, investors await GDP numbers for March, which are widely expected to show a yearly ease in economic growth to 0.7% from 1% in February and a monthly contraction of 0.2% after a 0.5% rise previously.