4th Jul 2025 11:58
(Alliance News) - London's blue chip index remained lower at midday on Friday, as investors weigh China's decision to slap levies on major European brandy exporters, and as US trading partners brace for letters on their respective tariff rates.
The FTSE 100 index was down 28.34 points, 0.3%, at 8,794.86. The FTSE 250 was down 150.59 points, 0.7%, at 21,551.99, and the AIM All-Share was down 1.02 points, 0.1%, at 775.23.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.2% at 877.28, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.8% at 19,048.04, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.1% at 17,503.66.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.9%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt shed 0.6%.
"European markets are losing traction despite Trump's expected signing of his 'big, beautiful bill' later today. From a European perspective, we draw ever closer to Wednesday's reciprocal tariff deadline, and thus traders are likely to grow jittery despite the tentative signals of a potential pathway to a deal seen on the wires," commented Rostro analyst Joshua Mahony.
"The prospective deal seems to centre around the possible acceptance of the 10% tariff but adjustments to sector specific levels currently in place for key industries such as automobiles. While there has been much talk of the EU hitting the US with retaliatory measures, it is clear that there is an acceptance that this is a battle they cannot win.
"As such, the US are likely to retain some level of tariffs which both make domestic goods more competitive and provide a financial windfall for the Trump administration. Donald Trump has announced that he will be sending out letters to countries outlining their new tariff levels, starting with 10-12 today.
"Notably, the fact that it takes place on a day when US markets are closed does provide a warning that these tariffs could be another shocker, providing the weekend for negotiations that bring potentially positive headlines before the Monday open."
US financial markets are closed on Friday for Independence Day.
President Donald Trump said he plans to start sending letters informing trading partners of their tariff rates as soon as Friday, as negotiations to avoid higher US levies enter the final stretch.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.34%, widening from 4.33%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.86%, widening from 4.85%.
Trump on Thursday secured a major political victory when Congress narrowly passed his signature tax and spending bill, cementing his radical second-term agenda and boosting funds for his anti-immigration drive.
The bill underlined the president's dominance over the Republican Party, which had been wracked by misgivings over a text that will balloon the national debt and gut health and welfare support.
A small group of opponents in the party finally fell into line after Speaker Mike Johnson worked through the night to corral dissenters in the House of Representatives behind the 'One Big Beautiful Bill.'
The bill passed by a final vote of 218-214. The White House declared "VICTORY" on social media and said Trump would sign the bill into law on Friday, the July 4th Independence Day holiday.
The pound was quoted down at USD1.3650 at midday on Friday in London, compared to USD1.3654 at the equities close on Thursday. The euro stood higher at USD1.778, against USD1.1762. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at JPY144.37 compared to JPY144.87.
China said it will impose "anti-dumping" taxes of up to 34.9% on brandy imported from the EU starting from Saturday, adding to tensions between the major trading partners.
Beijing launched an investigation last year into EU brandy, months after the bloc undertook a probe into Chinese electric vehicle subsidies.
It said later it had determined in a preliminary ruling that dumping had occurred and imposed "temporary anti-dumping measures" on imports.
The levies will apply to brandy in containers of less than 200 litres, according to the ministry.
The EU "regrets China's decision" to impose anti-dumping taxes on major European brandy exporters from Saturday unless they raise prices, a European Commission spokesman said on Friday.
"We believe that China's measures are unfair. We believe they are unjustified. We believe they are inconsistent with the applicable international rules and are thus unfounded," said the commission's trade spokesman, Olof Gill.
In London, AFC Energy was up 7.2% around midday.
The Cranleigh, England-based provider of hydrogen power generation technologies has formed a new joint venture with Industrial Chemicals Group Ltd to produce hydrogen from ammonia.
The venture will use AFC Energy's proprietary ammonia cracking technology, and aims to produce and sell hydrogen "at a price to disrupt the UK market, without reliance on government subsidies".
Initial revenues are expected in early 2026, and the companies anticipate generating up to 400 kilograms per day of hydrogen. It expects this to be followed by incremental capacity through the sale of AFC Energy's Hy-5 portable, containerised ammonia crackers to the venture. These units are capable of generating up to 500 kilograms a day.
AstraZeneca remained broadly stable, up 0.3%.
The Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical company said Imfinzi has been approved in the EU for treatment in adults with resectable muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
The approval is for the use of Imfinzi as a combination treatment, with gemcitabine and cisplatin, as neoadjuvant treatment (administered before surgery), followed by Imfinzi as monotherapy adjuvant treatment.
This marks the "first and only perioperative immunotherapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer", said AstraZeneca.
At the other end, Moonpig was the FTSE 250's biggest loser, shedding 8.1%.
Deutsche Bank Research cut the London-based online greeting card and gifting company to 'hold' from its previous 'buy' rating, and also lowered its price target to 235 pence from 290p.
Moonpig last week reported pretax profit slumped to GBP3.0 million in the financial year to April 30 from GBP46.4 million a year prior.
In particular, sales in its Experiences division fell 19% year-on-year, with the unit "more exposed to cyclical pressures than the rest of the group". The company took a GBP56.7 million impairment charge for Experiences in the first half of the financial year.
Excluding goodwill impairments and amortisation, however, adjusted pretax profit increased 16% to GBP67.5 million from GBP58.2 million. Revenue increased by 2.6% to GBP350.1 million from GBP341.1 million.
Brent oil was quoted lower at USD67.99 a barrel at midday in London on Friday from USD68.67 late Thursday.
Gold was quoted up at USD3,334.58 an ounce against USD3,330.30.
By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
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