London close: UK stocks stage late rally, track Wall Street higher

13th Feb 2026 15:11

(Sharecast News) - UK stock markets ended the week on a positive note after earlier choppy trading on Friday, nearing this week's record high, as decent gains in the software sector offset weakness among banks.

The FTSE 100, which was struggling for direction for most of the day, finished 0.4% higher at 10,446.35, its second-highest closing level since hitting 10,472.11 on Wednesday.

The late rally was helped by a positive start on Wall Street as investors digested the all-important US CPI report for January, which showed that inflation slowed more than expected to 2.4% from 2.7% in December. The solid data follows a better-than-forecast payrolls number earlier in the week, showing a more resilient economy than predicted at the start of the year.

"The market is now back to pricing in 2.4 cuts from the Fed this year, with the first cut expected at either the June or July meeting. Interest rates are expected to end the year at 3.01%, a month ago, the market expected rates to end the year 16bps higher at 3.17%," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB. "Thus, this week's data supports a gradual decline in US interest rates, while suggesting that the US economy is in a sweet spot fundamentally."

Trade news was also in focus following a report that US President Donald Trump is planning to roll back some tariffs on steel and aluminium products. Trump hit steel and aluminium imports with tariffs of up to 50% last summer and has expanded the taxes to a range of goods made from those metals including washing machines and ovens.

But according to the Financial Times, citing three people familiar with the matter, his administration is now reviewing the list of products affected by the levies and plans to exempt some items, halt the expansion of the lists and instead launch more targeted national security probes into specific goods.

On home shores, industry data out earlier showed that retail footfall softened slightly in January, although the pace of decline was a notable improvement on December. According the latest BRC-Sensormatic footfall monitor, total UK footfall fell 0.6% in January year-on-year, as stormy winter weather kept shoppers at home. However, it was a notable improvement on the previous month's 2.9% slide.

Software stocks rally

Relx, Experian and LSEG were among the top performers, having been caught up recently in the sell-off fuelled by worries about potential overvaluations for artificial intelligence stocks and capex spending relating to the industry. FTSE 250 names WPP and Raspberry Pi also rose strongly.

Flutter Entertainment tumbled after US online betting company DraftKings' 2026 outlook for sales and profit missed expectations, sending the shares sharply lower.

NatWest slumped despite reporting a better-than-expected increase in full-year profits and lifting performance targets. Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Investors should be pleased with these results, but there'll still be a lingering question mark around the price being paid for the Evelyn Partners deal that sent shares tumbling earlier in the week.

Other banks were also weaker, with Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC all down.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,446.35 0.42%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,422.78 0.51%

techMARK (TASX) 6,062.02 0.89%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Relx plc (REL) 2,257.00p 9.99%

Experian (EXPN) 2,538.00p 5.40%

3i Group (III) 3,436.00p 5.11%

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,271.00p 3.67%

Halma (HLMA) 3,876.00p 3.58%

Melrose Industries (MRO) 642.00p 3.05%

CRH (CDI) (CRH) 9,170.00p 3.03%

Tesco (TSCO) 488.70p 2.75%

BAE Systems (BA.) 1,968.00p 2.23%

Fresnillo (FRES) 3,858.00p 2.12%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 9,352.00p -10.89%

Entain (ENT) 569.60p -4.30%

NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 580.20p -2.49%

Croda International (CRDA) 3,056.00p -2.46%

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 1,238.60p -2.21%

Barclays (BARC) 454.00p -2.07%

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 100.40p -1.95%

Land Securities Group (LAND) 644.00p -1.60%

Bunzl (BNZL) 2,132.00p -1.39%

Whitbread (WTB) 2,688.00p -1.36%

FTSE 250 - Risers

WPP (WPP) 272.90p 5.24%

Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 304.20p 5.04%

Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 283.60p 4.26%

Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 823.00p 4.18%

Renishaw (RSW) 4,225.00p 4.06%

Kier Group (KIE) 247.00p 3.56%

Senior (SNR) 253.00p 3.48%

Chemring Group (CHG) 513.00p 3.32%

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 696.50p 3.19%

Endeavour Mining (EDV) 4,562.00p 3.07%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Princes Group (PRN) 405.50p -4.59%

Playtech (PTEC) 329.50p -3.51%

Ashmore Group (ASHM) 248.00p -3.12%

Pinewood Technologies Group (PINE) 441.00p -3.08%

Trainline (TRN) 195.60p -2.77%

Great Portland Estates (GPE) 333.00p -2.63%

Future (FUTR) 409.60p -2.62%

International Workplace Group (IWG) 217.60p -2.51%

Derwent London (DLN) 1,801.00p -2.12%

Breedon Group (BREE) 351.20p -2.06%