Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on November 7, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleUK stocks fell as FTSE 100 dropped 0.6% on Friday. IAG and Rightmove shares declined sharply. Bank of England held rates steady at 4%.
(Reuters) -London stocks fell on Friday, with IAG among the biggest drags, capping a volatile week dominated by a flurry of corporate earnings and the Bank of England's interest rate decision.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index finished 0.6% lower for the day, recording 0.4% losses for the week.
Similarly, the midcap index lost 0.6% on Friday, culminating in a 1.9% weekly decline.
Travel and leisure stocks declined 3.1%, with IAG tumbling 11.6% and marking its steepest single-day fall since 2021, after the British Airways owner flagged weakness in the U.S. market.
Rightmove shares plunged 12.5% to their lowest since late 2023 as Britain's biggest property portal warned of slower profit growth next year. The broader real estate sector lost 1%.
Heavyweight banks added to the market's woes, shedding 1.2%. HSBC and Barclays fell about 1% each.
On the bright side, ITV jumped 16.6% as the broadcaster said it is in preliminary talks with Comcast-owned pay-TV company Sky over a 1.6 billion pound ($2.15 billion) sale of its television business.
Earlier this week, the Bank of England kept its main lending rate steady at 4%. The British pound, which had been trading at multi-month lows, gained some ground following the central bank's decision, rising 0.2% on Friday and positioning for modest weekly gains.
However, major brokerages including Morgan Stanley and Citigroup expect the central bank to deliver a rate cut in its December meeting.
Despite the week's setback, the FTSE 100 remains among Europe's top-performing indexes. Global equities ran into turbulence this week as concerns over valuations of technology stocks and dimming chances of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in December hit sentiment.
Back in the UK, the Times reported that Finance Minister Rachel Reeves has told the country's budget watchdog that a rise in personal taxation is among the "major measures" she is preparing to announce in her November 26 budget.
($1 = 0.7451 pounds)
(Reporting by Utkarsh Tushar Hathi, Shashwat Chauhan and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel, Alexandra Hudson)
The FTSE 100 is a stock market index that represents the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, based on market capitalization.
Corporate earnings refer to the profits a company generates during a specific period, typically reported quarterly or annually, and are crucial for assessing financial performance.
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom, responsible for monetary policy, issuing currency, and maintaining financial stability.
An interest rate is the amount charged by a lender to a borrower for the use of borrowed money, expressed as a percentage of the principal.
The British pound, symbolized as GBP, is the official currency of the United Kingdom and is one of the oldest currencies still in use today.
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