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London stocks on the FTSE 100 gained in early trade on Tuesday following the long weekend, catching up with gains in Europe a day earlier after Trump agreed to extend a deadline to negotiate tariffs with the European Union.
At 0845 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 8,772.73.
Trump announced on Sunday that the imposition of a 50% tariff on goods from the EU to the US will be delayed from 1 June until 9 July to allow for talks.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “A mood of cautious relief is spreading after the long weekend, amid hopes for more fruitful trade negotiations between the United States and its global partners. There are no post bank holiday blues for the London market, with the Footsie in striking distance of the record high reached in February. More positive vibes are pulsing about the outlook for the global economy, with hopes that more scores can be etched on the doors of trade talks.
“US futures point to a higher open on indices, as optimism spreads after the holiday break. Trump once again has pressed the pause button, this time on proposed 50% tariffs on imports from the European Union, which caused nervousness at the end of last week. The Dax and CAC 40 had already gained ground on Monday, after the extension to talks was announced with the European Commission.
“Still, plenty of uncertainty remains about the exact outcome in the raft of ongoing negotiations with nations around the world. Japan is also holding out for a deal to eliminate tariffs, with the proposals for a huge US-Japanese joint wealth fund looking set to be a potential bargaining chip in the talks. The idea floated is for the fund’s structure to potentially be a blueprint for other countries to create closer investment ties with the US, but it seems to be very early days for the concept.”
In equity markets, specialty chemicals company Elementis surged to the top of the FTSE 250 after saying it had sold its Talc business to Italy’s IMI Fabi for an enterprise value of $121m and would start a £50m share buyback.
The sale comes as Elementis repositions itself as a pure-play specialty chemicals operation focused on value-added additives in the high-margin coatings and personal care markets.
Jupiter Fund Management also shot higher after an upgrade to ‘add’ from ‘hold’ at Peel Hunt, which said the company’s planned cost savings offer a “welcome boost” to profitability.
Premier Inn owner Whitbread advanced as it announced the appointment of Christine Hodgson as its new chair effective 1 September, succeeding Adam Crozier, who will retire from the board on the same date.
Burberry was boosted by an upgrade to ‘equalweight’ from ‘underweight’ at Barclays, which said that its key concerns around the dilution of the brand equity now appear less likely to materialise.
Premier Foods was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘sector perform’ from ‘outperform’ at RBC Capital Markets. It said Premier has done an outstanding job resolving a number of existential problems and has evolved a reliable business model.
“This has taken a while, but we feel that the share price now reflects these virtues, and so downgrade our rating to sector perform.”
Fresnillo, Hochschild Mining and Endeavour all lost their shine as gold prices fell.
Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
International Consolidated Airlines Group S.a. | +4.00% | +12.80 | 332.60 |
| 2 |  |
Wise Plc | +3.77% | +41.00 | 1,129.00 |
| 3 |  |
Melrose Industries Plc | +3.57% | +16.10 | 467.50 |
| 4 |  |
Bae Systems Plc | +3.12% | +57.50 | 1,900.50 |
| 5 |  |
Smiths Group Plc | +2.81% | +60.00 | 2,194.00 |
| 6 |  |
Ashtead Group Plc | +2.66% | +112.00 | 4,329.00 |
| 7 |  |
St. James’s Place Plc | +2.62% | +28.50 | 1,115.50 |
| 8 |  |
Rolls-royce | +2.56% | +21.40 | 857.20 |
| 9 |  |
Carnival Plc | +2.33% | +34.50 | 1,515.50 |
| 10 |  |
Gsk Plc | +2.31% | +33.00 | 1,458.50 |
Top 10 FTSE 100 Fallers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Ck Infrastructure Holdings Limited | -5.24% | -28.00 | 506.00 |
| 2 |  |
Fresnillo | -2.91% | -33.00 | 1,100.00 |
| 3 |  |
Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. | -1.72% | -110.00 | 6,300.00 |
| 4 |  |
Rio Tinto Plc | -1.03% | -47.00 | 4,515.50 |
| 5 |  |
Centrica Plc | -0.69% | -1.10 | 157.50 |
| 6 |  |
Bhp Group Limited | -0.24% | -4.50 | 1,835.50 |
| 7 |  |
Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc | -0.22% | -11.00 | 4,918.00 |
| 8 |  |
British American Tobacco Plc | -0.15% | -5.00 | 3,330.00 |
| 9 |  |
Lloyds Grp Dr A | -0.00% | -0.00 | 108.00 |
| 10 |  |
Ricoh Co Ltd | -0.00% | -0.00 | 981.88 |
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Liberty Steel, food inflation, Volvo, IPOs
Liberty Steel’s operations in South Yorkshire lost £340m in four years, according to figures that shine a light on the difficulties facing a business on the brink of liquidation that employs 1,450 people. The company, owned by the metals magnate Sanjeev Gupta, is desperately searching for investors or lenders before a 16 July deadline, after London’s high court granted it extra time last week. – Guardian
EU leaders have expressed hopes for a quick deal to resolve the trade war with the US after Donald Trump announced he was delaying his threatened 50% tariffs for the bloc until 9 July. The US president said on Sunday he would pause the border tax due to be imposed on 1 June, which he had announced two days earlier, after what he called a “very nice call” with Ursula von der Leyen. – Guardian
Food inflation is accelerating as supermarkets pass on the cost of Rachel Reeves’ tax raid. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and NielsenIQ showed food price inflation rose to 2.8pc in May, up from 2.6pc in April. It marks the fourth month in a row of rising food inflation. – Telegraph
Rachel Reeves is being forced towards a tax raid of up to £30bn by benefit giveaways and her struggle with rising borrowing costs. Experts fear higher taxes are now inevitable after Labour pledged to restore winter fuel payments and review the two-child benefit cap, piling costs on the beleaguered Chancellor. – Telegraph
Volvo has cut about 3,000 jobs in its head office because of a slowdown in demand for electric vehicles, geopolitical uncertainty linked to President Trump’s tariff regime and other rising costs. The Swedish carmaker, which recently drafted back from retirement Hakan Samuelsson, its long-serving chief executive, is under pressure to revive its flagging share price and respond to a rapidly changing automotive landscape. – The Times
The market for initial public offerings will not recover until investors regain trust in companies looking to list, one of the UK’s largest technology backers has warned. Peter Singlehurst, who leads private company investments at Baillie Gifford, said the memory of the 2021 IPO boom in the UK and US and the sharp declines in many of those companies’ share prices had done lasting damage to investor confidence. – The Times
