Barclays share price has returned to the upside on Monday after declining by 1.44% on Friday, underperforming the FTSE 100 Index which gained 0.4% on the day. The stock was up by 1.2% on the daily chart, trading at 323p in early afternoon trading. However, investors are cautiously optimistic based on Barclays’ strong balance sheet and Q1 earnings, as the Middle East conflict predisposes it to geopolitical shocks.
Lloyds Bank is the biggest rival to Barclays’ upside potential among UK’s top lenders. While Barclays share price has gained 57% to Lloyds’ 43% in the last twelve months, Lloyds share price has outpaced Barclays in recent time, gaining 41% year-to-date versus 21% and 3% in the last month versus 0.1% in the last month. However, the UK’s Supreme Court is expected to rule on the car miss-selling case in July, and that could see Lloyds share price come against stronger headwinds than Barclays, which stopped point-of-sale motor vehicle finance in 2019.
Barclays reported a 19% pre-tax profit jump to £2.7 billion, beating the median analysts’ consensus estimate figure of £2.49 billion in the first quarter of the year. In addition, it gave a strong guidance for the full year 2025, including a revision of Net Interest Income from £
12.3 billion to £12.5 billion and maintaining a Rate on Tangible Equity (RoTE) of about 11%. Furthermore, the company approved a £1 billion share buyback plan in mid-February, expected to run until mid-November. These factors favour continued upside by Barclays share price and signal that the recent pullback won’t stay in place for long.
Barclays Share Price Prediction
The momentum on Barclays share price calls for further upside above 320p. That will likely see the first barrier encountered at 324.45. However, an extended control by the buyers will break above that level and could potentially send the action higher to test 327.95p.
On the other hand, going below 320p will favour the sellers to take control. In that case, the first support will likely be at 316.60p. If the price breaks below that level, the upside narrative will be invalid, and the resulting momentum could extend the downside to test 313.35p.
