British Shares Rise; Airtel Money Makes London Debut

11:49 AM EDT, 10/14/2026 (MT Newswires) -- London's FTSE 100 closed 0.75% in the green on Wednesday as investors assessed rising oil prices amid renewed attacks in the Middle East and a series of corporate updates. Oxford Economics said higher energy bills were likely to slow UK real consumption growth next year, putting pressure on discretionary spending. "Weak income growth will leave households with little protection against higher bills even as they try to reduce their energy consumption. This will be most noticeable for lower-income households that will not benefit from the large jumps in the National Living Wage seen in 2022 and 2023," it added. Separately, the Water Services Regulation Authority, or Ofwat, proposed reducing customer bills by 240 million pounds sterling from April 2027, subject to a final decision by Dec. 15, 2026. Of this amount, 107 million pounds sterling would be reflected in bills in 2027-2028. "The figures are draft and do not mean every household will see the same change," Ofwat noted. In corporate news, Airtel Mobile Commerce (AMC.L), d/b/a Airtel Money, closed 5.91% higher on the first day of unconditional trading on the London bourse's main market. The mobile money subsidiary of telecom group Airtel Africa (AAF.L) opened at 1.81 pounds, lower than its initial public offering price of 1.96 pounds. Airtel Africa shares fell 3.20%, ranking among the blue-chip index's biggest decliners. Great Portland Estates (GPE.L) jumped 3.16% after the property group reported strong leasing activity in its fiscal first half, with 40 new leases and renewals, reflecting annual rent of 19 million pounds. Meanwhile, Rio Tinto Group (RIO.L) declined 0.97% after reporting its third-quarter production update. "Rio Tinto (RIO) has released an in-line 3Q26 production update with Pilbara iron ore shipments of 85.7Mt in line with expectations, Copper of 205kt 2% ahead and Aluminium of 0.8Mt 6% below. All 2026 production and unit cost guidance is maintained while 2026 lithium production is now expected to be at the lower end of the 61-64kt range primarily reflecting the slower ramp-up at Sal de Vida. Overall, we expect minimal changes to consensus estimates following RIO's 3Q26 update," RBC Capital Markets said.