London - UK equities moved lower on Friday as new housing data and renewed energy security worries weighed on investor sentiment. At 03:20 ET (07:20 GMT) the FTSE 100 had fallen 0.23%, while sterling traded at 1.3439 against the dollar, up 0.08% on the day. Germany’s DAX eased 0.34% and France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.07% in the same window.
The session’s domestic headline was the Halifax House Price Index, which showed the average UK property value slipping for a second month. Halifax reported an average price of 298,806 in May, down 0.1% on the month and up 0.5% year-on-year.
Commenting on the data, Amanda Bryden, Head of Mortgages at Halifax, linked property price trends to geopolitical unease, saying "property price trends continue to reflect the uncertainty linked to developments in the Middle East." She added that "higher inflation expectations have kept borrowing costs above the level seen at the start of the year, continuing to stretch affordability for many buyers."
The regional breakdown highlighted a widening north-south divergence. Northern Ireland led the country with year-on-year growth of 7.8%, the strongest of any UK region. By contrast, London prices fell 1.5% to 534,375, while South East England saw a 2.1% decline to 382,704.
Energy market developments provided an international backdrop that underpinned the market mood. Brent crude was trading around $95 a barrel and was on course for a weekly gain of more than 3% if the level held through the close. The move followed an explosion near Oman’s Mina al Fahal oil terminal that briefly halted loading at the country’s main crude export facility.
Oman’s state news agency later reported that operations had resumed to normal, citing Petroleum Development Oman, while noting Omani authorities did not provide details on the cause of the incident. Reuters had earlier reported the blast near the terminal’s single-buoy mooring berths was believed to have been caused by a drone attack.
Beyond that episode, the wider energy complex remains sensitive to disruptions in and around the Strait of Hormuz. Lloyd’s List data cited in market commentary showed Iran’s crude exports collapsed 84% in May compared with the prior month, and were 87% below their 12-month average, amid intensified pressure on Tehran’s shipping network from the United States.
Iranian political developments added to uncertainty. Hamidreza Haji-Babaei, deputy speaker of Iran’s parliament, said lawmakers had reviewed a plan to regulate ship traffic through the strait and that a "powerful resolution" would be approved, though he did not disclose the measure’s terms. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there had been "no tangible progress" in negotiations with Washington, while indicating message exchanges had not been fully severed. Araghchi also dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks about a potential meeting with Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, saying the issue should be viewed "in the real world."
President Trump, speaking from the Oval Office on Thursday, said he had considered sending special operations forces to retrieve Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile but rejected the plan because of the risk of a prolonged mission inside a war zone.
Meanwhile in Lebanon, the ceasefire framework brokered in Washington faced rejection from Hezbollah’s secretary-general Sheikh Naim Qassam, who called the agreement "a roadmap for the destruction of part of the Lebanese people," leaving the diplomatic construct on shaky ground.
Taken together, the data and geopolitical developments provided multiple pressure points for markets sensitive to interest-rate driven housing demand and energy supply risk. UK equities finished lower in the early European session as investors digested both the Halifax housing update and the flare-up in energy market concerns.