FTSE 100 Subdued After General Election Call

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks were subdued on Thursday after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a general election for July 4.

Investors were also reacting to the results of a survey, which showed that growth across British businesses cooled noticeably this month.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 8 points at 8,362 after falling 0.6 percent on Wednesday.

National Grid shares plunged 9 percent after the electricity and gas utility unveiled plans to raise about 7 billion pounds ($8.9 billion) through a fully underwritten rights issue of 1.09 billion new shares.

Drax was down 8.7 percent, Pennon Group fell nearly 7 percent and United Utilities dropped more than 5 percent.

Wizz Air Holdings surged 5 percent after the low-cost airline returned to profit in FY24.

Hargreaves Lansdown jumped 12 percent after the investment platform rejected a surprise takeover offer from a group of private equity buyers.

Insurer Aviva dropped 1 percent despite reporting strong results for its first quarter.