4th Apr 2025 07:52
(Alliance News) - London stocks are called down on Friday morning, as the UK government considers its response to US tariffs and the global market is left reeling in the wake of Thursday's sell-off.
UK ministers have insisted they will respond with "cool and calm heads" to US tariffs, and hope for an "economic deal" with the US to win some exemptions.
Trump on Thursday suggested he was open to negotiations.
"Yesterday saw the worst selloff since the pandemic," commented Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya
"Apple, Amazon, Nvidia, Microsoft, Tesla lost tens and for some hundreds of billions in market cap. Companies that have complex worldwide supply chains like Gap, H&M and Dell saw heavy losses, as well. Gap and Dell lost around 20% of their total market cap in a single session."
Meanwhile, gold continued its retreat from a record high of USD3,167.69 on Wednesday, and brent oil sank on fears of slower economic growth.
In early corporate news, BP Chair Helge Lund announced his intention to resign, and AstraZeneca received EU approval for two different therapies.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: called down 0.2% at 8,730.54
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Hang Seng: down 1.5% at 22,849.81
Nikkei 225: closed down 3.1% at 33,676.26
S&P/ASX 200: closed down 2.4% at 7,667.80
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DJIA: closed down 1,679.39 points, or 4.0%, at 40,545.93
S&P 500: closed down 274.45 points, or 4.8%, at 5,396.52
Nasdaq Composite: closed down 1,050.44 points, or 6.0%, at 16,550.61
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EUR: up at USD1.1068 (USD1.1047)
GBP: down at USD1.3074 (USD1.3114 )
USD: down at JPY145.99 (JPY146.11)
Gold: down at USD3,101.89 per ounce (USD3,109.85)
(Brent): down at USD69.32 a barrel (USD69.80)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS
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Friday's key economic events still to come:
08:30 BST eurozone construction PMI
08:30 BST Germany construction PMI
Germany new car registrations
09:00 BST eurozone European Central Bank vice-president Luis de Guindos speaks
09:00 BST UK new car sales
09:30 BST UK construction PMI
13:30 BST US nonfarm payrolls
13:30 BST US average weekly hours
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US President Donald Trump suggested he is open to negotiations following his announcement of new sweeping global tariffs. "If somebody said that we're going to give you something that's so phenomenal, as long as they're giving us something that's good," Trump said when asked if he would consider deals with affected countries. The tariffs would give the US "great power" to negotiate, the US president added.
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The UK government insisted they will respond to US tariffs with "cool and calm heads", but are keeping all options open, including the possibility of retaliatory tariffs on a range of American goods. An "indicative list" published by the government showed products that could be targeted, including bourbon whiskey, motorcycles, guitars and jeans. But an immediate response is unlikely as Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told parliament he would hold a four-week consultation on retaliatory action.
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Democratic officials in 19 states have filed a lawsuit against Trump's attempt to reshape elections. The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, called the president's move an unconstitutional invasion of states' clear authority to run their own elections. It seeks to block key aspects of it, including new requirements that people provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote and a demand that all mail ballots be received by election day. The lawsuit is the fourth against the executive order issued just a week ago. "The president has no power to do any of this," the state attorneys general wrote in court documents.
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More than half of Germans are in favour of bringing back nuclear power and support the reactivation of shut-down plants in the country, according to a survey released on Friday. Germany phased out nuclear energy in April 2023, when the final three plants were permanently shut. The online survey, commissioned by comparison portal Verivox and conducted by the opinion research institute Innofact, gathered responses from 1,007 participants between March 27-31. The results show a sharp divide on the issue, with 55% of respondents supporting the reactivation of nuclear plants, 36% against nuclear power and 9% undecided. The country's conservative CDU/CSU bloc, which is expected to form the next government under Friedrich Merz, has indicated interest in revisiting the possibility of reopening recently closed nuclear plants. According to the survey, 32% of respondents support reopening closed plants and even building new ones, while 22% only favour reactivating the most recently closed plants. Men are more supportive of nuclear power than women, the survey found.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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RBC cuts Bunzl price target to 3,550 (4,000) pence - 'outperform'
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Berenberg raises Currys price target to 175 (125) pence - 'buy'
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Jefferies cuts BHP Group price target to 1,800 (2,150) pence - 'hold'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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BP Chair Helge Lund intends step down from the role "in due course", most likely during 2026. The search for a successor has already begun, led by Senior Independent Director Amanda Blanc. "Having fundamentally reset our strategy, BP's focus now is on delivering the strategy at pace, improving performance and growing shareholder value. Now is the right time to start the process to find my successor and enable an orderly and seamless handover," says Chair Helge Lund.
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AstraZeneca received approval in the EU for Enhertu, or trastuzumab deruxtecan, as a therapy for adult patients with with unresectable or metastatic hormone receptor-positive, HER2-low or HER2-ultralow breast cancer, who have received at least one endocrine therapy in the metastatic setting and who are not considered suitable for endocrine therapy as the next line of treatment. Enhertu was jointly developed with Daiichi Sankyo, and approval followed a positive recommendation for the therapy from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use. The application was based on results from the Destiny-Breast06 phase 3 trial, in which Enhertu showed a 38% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death compared to chemotherapy. Enhertu was approved in the US earlier this year, with other regulatory applications currently under review in other countries, including Japan. AstraZeneca is now due to make a USD125 million milestone payment to Daiichi Sankyo, as a result of the approval. AstraZeneca also on Friday received EU approval for Imfinzi, or durvalumab, in combination with chemotherapy as a treatment for adults with resectable non-small cell lung cancer at high risk of recurrence and no epidermal growth factor receptor mutations or anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearrangements. A planned interim analysis of event-free survival demonstrated a 32% reduction in the risk of recurrence, progression events or deaths with Imfinzi, versus chemotherapy alone. Imfinzi is currently approved in the US, Chine and other countries based on results from the Aegean study. Regulatory applications are also under review in other countries including Japan.
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Shell on Thursday said subsidiary Shell Midstream Operating will sell its 16.125% interest in Colonial Enterprises to Colossus AcquireCo, a subsidiary of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and its partners, for USD1.45 billion. Colonial is an independent company and fully owns Colonial Pipeline Co, a non-operated venture, as well as Colonial Marketing Co. Colonial Pipeline provides oil products transportation services from the US Gulf Coast to the US Atlantic Seaboard. "This divestment reflects our focus on performance, discipline and simplification. It will allow us to concentrate on areas where we have scale and competitive advantage," said Andrew Smith, president of Shell Trading & Supply.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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HgCapital Trust noted a strategic investment by private equity firm TA Associates into electronic trading and payments platform smartTrade Technologies, which will return around GBP30.3 million for HgCapital Trust's investment in smartTrade. HgCapital Trust's stake was around 1.3% of smartTrade's net asset value at February 28. Upon completion of the investment, HgCapital Trust will fully exit its majority investment in smartTrade. The full terms of the deal were not disclosed, and remain subject to customary regulatory approvals. HgCapital Trust expects its new net asset value to be GBP2.5 billion, or 544.6p per share, following the smartTrade exit, and will release its first-quarter valuations on May 8.
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OTHER COMPANIES
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Fidelity Japan Trust rejected a proposed merger with AVI Japan Opportunity Trust, saying its investment team is "one of the best resourced in the industry". AVI Japan on Thursday had said it has proposed a merger with Fidelity Japan to create a larger, more liquid investment trust focused on Japanese equities, but complained that the Fidelity Japan board hadn't engaged in "constructive dialogue" over the idea. AVI Japan said the merger of the two London Main Market listings has the backing of Fidelity Japan Trust's largest shareholder, City of London Investment Management, which has a 23% stake. However, Fidelity Japan early Friday said its board reviewed and rejected the non-binding indicative proposal from AVI Japan and is recommending shareholders vote for continuation of the trust at its annual general meeting in May.
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JPMorgan Global Emerging Markets Income Trust reported a net asset value total return of 5.9% for the six months that ended January 31, against a 4.9% return on its benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index with net dividends reinvested. NAV per share at January 31 was 156.8 pence, up 3.6% from 151.4p at July 31. Pretax net return for the six-month period was GBP23.5 million, swung from a GBP9.9 million loss the year before. The trust declared two interim dividends of 1.0p per share, the first of which was paid on January 24 and the second will be paid on April 22. "We remain excited by the many opportunities we see across Emerging Markets. Our focus has remained unchanged since the company's inception: we seek out businesses that can produce attractive returns on equity, generate healthy free cash flow, and pay reliable dividends to shareholders. By identifying stocks with these characteristics, and buying them at appealing valuations, we have built a portfolio with both value and quality attributes, which gives shareholders an attractive yield while also providing them with the opportunity to participate in Emerging Markets growth," says Portfolio Manager Omar Negyal.
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By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
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BunzlBHP GroupCurrysBPAstrazenecaShellFidelity Japan TrustAvi Japan Oppo.Jpmorgan Glob