FTSE 100 Flat; Kingfisher Soars On Higher Guidance

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks are turning in a mixed performance on Tuesday with investors digesting the flash data showing weak manufacturing and services sector activity in the month of September.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was down slightly at 9,226.05 a few minutes past noon.

Kingfisher is soaring 15.4% after lifting its expectations for the fiscal year. Shares of real estate investment trust company Land Securities are up 3% after the company backed its annual outlook.

Howden Joinery Group is up 3.3%. Easyjet, Marks & Spencer, Persimmon, Segro, Barratt Redrow, Entain, Convatec Group, Londonmetric Property, Endeavour Mining and Sainsbury (J) are up 1.3 to 2.5%.

Smiths Group rose sharply earlier in the session, buoyed by stronger annual profit and announcement of a higher dividend. However, the stock pared its gains susbequently, and is down more than 1% now.

Metlen Energy & Metals is down 2.7%. Babcock International, St. James's Place, AstraZeneca, Admiral Group, British American Tobacco and Hikma Pharmaceuticals are down 1 to 2%.

Data from S&P Global showed UK's S&P Global Composite PMI fell to 51 in September from the one-year high of 53.5 in the previous month, according to a flash estimate.

The slowdown was consistent with the deceleration in activity for services providers. The S&P Global Flash UK Services PMI fell to 51.9 in September 2025 from 54.2 in August which was the highest since April 2024, and well below forecasts of 53.5.

The S&P Global UK Manufacturing PMI fell to 46.2 in September, down from 47.0 in August and below market expectations of 47.1.