FTSE 100 Drifts Lower In Lackluster Trade

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks are moving in a narrow range below the flat line Tuesday morning with investors digesting a mixed batch of economic data, and reacting to some corporate news.

The benchmark FTSE 100, which ended the previous session with a modest gain, was down 22.29 points or 0.27% at 8,227.37 a little while ago.

JD Sports Fashion is climbing nearly 3.5%. Entain is up 2.7%, while 3i is gaining 1.6% and International Airlines Group is advancing 1.3%. Centrica, F&C Investment Trust, ICP, Endeavour Mining, Diageo and Shell are also up with notable gains.

Shares of high street retailer Next Plc are up sharply after the company reported strong Christmas sales and raised its profit guidance for 2025.

Taylor Wimpey, Compass Group, Associated British Foods and Natwest Group are down 1.7 to 2.4%.

J Sainsbury, Mondi, Vistry Group, Pershing Square Holdings, HSBC Holdings, Tesco, Persimmon, AstraZeneca and Barrat Redrow are down 1 to 1.5%.

Shares of Close Bothers Group are down nearly 2.5%, weighed down by an announcement that the company's CEO Adrian Sainsbury has resigned.

A report from mortgage lender Halifax said UK house prices dropped for the first time in nine months as the market lost some momentum towards the end of the year but house prices are expected to rise moderately this year.

House prices registered an unexpected monthly drop of 0.2% in December, in contrast to the 1.2% increase in November. This was the first decrease since March.

S&P Global's report said that the construction PMI in the UK decreased to 53.3 points in December from 55.2 points in November.

According to a report from the British Retail Consortium, retail sales in the U.K. increased by 3.1% in December, after a 3.4% drop in November.