UK stocks struggle due to weakness in oil majors and Asia-focused banks

Oil majors and Asia-focused banks weighed on Britain's main index on Thursday ahead of Easter weekend, while a strong first quarter took Unilever to its highest level in eight months.

The FTSE 100 was 0.1 per cent lower by 0716 GMT, while midcaps dipped 0.2 per cent. Outshining the index was Unilever with a 2.1 per cent rise after reporting stronger than expected quarterly underlying sales growth, aided by higher prices and volume plus strength in emerging markets.

Pharma giants AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline were the biggest drags on the main index, following a sell-off in U.S. healthcare stocks over regulatory worries in the last session. Elsewhere, Asian shares also retreated from their nine-month highs after losses on Wall Street and some profit-taking ahead of the long Easter holiday weekend.

That dragged down financial stocks with greater exposure to Asia, with HSBC, Prudential and Standard Chartered all in the red in early deals. BAE Systems and Reckitt Benckiser, which were trading ex-dividend, lost 2.4 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.

Heavyweights Shell and BP also slid on lower oil prices as strong U.S. production offset gains from ongoing OPEC-led supply cuts and a surprise fall in U.S. crude inventories. Meanwhile, a read-across from U.S.-based United Rentals' profit beat on Wednesday helped industrial firm Ashtead rise 2.1 per cent.

News-driven moves were scarce on the FTSE 250, but the index was dragged down by multiple stocks trading ex-dividend. Motor insurer Hastings, power producer Drax and engineering firm Vesuvius were the worst performers. But price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com jumped 5 per cent after higher first-quarter revenue on strength across all its divisions.