June 3 (Reuters) – UK shares declined on Wednesday as hostilities in the Middle East flared up again, sending crude oil \u200bprices higher and dampening hopes for a peace deal between the \u200cU.S. and Iran.<\/p>\n
The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE), opens new tab<\/a> fell 0.4%, while the midcap FTSE 250 (.FTMC), opens new tab<\/a> was down 0.8%. Both indexes have been largely range-bound this week as \u200binvestors weighed developments in the Middle East and large swings \u200bin global tech shares.<\/p>\n Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n Iranian attacks<\/a> damaged Kuwait’s airport and injured dozens, while \u2060the U.S. military carried out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz, as \u200btalks to halt the war showed little sign of progress.Oil prices rose \u200baround 2%, sending shares of UK energy firms (.FTNMX601010), opens new tab<\/a> 1.6% higher.British services firms suffered a small fall in activity in May as the strains of the Iran \u200bwar pushed costs up sharply and hit optimism, an S&P Global \u200bsurvey showed<\/a>.<\/p>\n The S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index’s gauge for input cost inflation fell slightly \u200cin \u2060May but was still the second-highest since December 2022.<\/p>\n Financial markets see a nearly 90% chance for the Bank of England to maintain borrowing costs at 3.75% in its June 18 announcement, according to LSEG data.<\/p>\n British private equity \u200bfirm Bridgepoint Group (BPTB.L), opens new tab<\/a> fell \u200b9.8% after \u2060Switzerland’s Partners Group<\/a> said it was capping withdrawals from an $8.6 billion private equity fund.Investment manager Ninety One (N91.L), opens new tab<\/a> fell 4.6% \u200bafter analysts noted smaller-than-expected net inflows during the second \u200bhalf of fiscal 2026.Shares \u2060of B&M (BMEB.L), opens new tab<\/a> jumped 16.1% after the British discount retailer reported<\/a> a smaller-than-expected drop in annual pretax profit.Debenhams Group (DEBS.L), opens new tab<\/a> jumped 14.4% after the online fashion \u2060retailer returned \u200bto growth<\/a> with a 0.5% rise in \u200bfirst-quarter gross merchandise value along with a “substantial” increase in core profit.<\/p>\n Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan \u200band Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Jonathan Ananda<\/p>\n Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab<\/a><\/p>\n