1st Aug 2025 09:06
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened lower on Friday, as investors mulled the latest sweeping tariffs set out by US President Donald Trump against trading partners.
The FTSE 100 index opened down 59.89 points, 0.7%, at 9,072.92. The FTSE 250 fell 106.70 points, 0.5%, at 21,856.13, and the AIM All-Share was down 1.18 points, 0.2%, at 760.32.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.7% at 905.70, the Cboe UK 250 fell 0.4% at 19,206.20, and the Cboe Small Companies was marginally up at 17,399.07.
In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris fell 1.6%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 1.3%.
Stocks were down after US President Donald Trump ordered the reimposition of tariffs on dozens of trading partners.
However, in a minor reprieve that opens the door to further negotiations, the White House said these measures will take effect on August 7, not Friday as previously expected.
The tariff rates for 92 nations range from 10% to 41%. Mexico received a reprieve with a 90-day extension, while China faces a separate deadline of August 12.
Meanwhile, UK house price growth edged higher in July, a tracker from mortgage lender Nationwide showed on Friday.
Property values increased by 0.6% month-on-month in July, following a 0.9% fall in June, taking the average UK house price to GBP272,664, Nationwide Building Society said.
The typical UK house price increased 2.4% annually in July, compared with 2.1% in June.
Heathrow Airport has said it can build a third runway for GBP21 billion within a decade.
The airport has submitted plans to the UK government for a new full-length runway, but insisted it is open to considering a shorter one. The west London hub is seeking permission to open a new 3,500-metre runway to the north-west of its existing location.
This would enable an additional 276,000 flights per year, from 480,000 today to 756,000.
Heathrow also wants to create new terminal capacity for 150 million annual passengers, up from 84 million currently. This would involve a new terminal complex named T5XW and T5XN, extending Terminal 2, and demolishing Terminal 3 and the old Terminal 1.
Heathrow said its runway and airfield plan would be privately funded at a cost of GBP21 billion. It attributed the increase from its estimate of GBP14 billion in 2018 to "construction inflation". The total plan, including terminals and supporting infrastructure, would be expected to cost GBP49 billion.
The pound was down at USD1.3197 early on Friday in London, compared to USD1.3230 at the equities close on Thursday. The euro stood at USD1.1418, lower against USD1.1442. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY150.56, up compared to JPY150.48.
In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 0.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.4% lower, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 1.0%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.9%.
In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.7%, the S&P 500 0.4% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite edged down less than 0.1%.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury widened to 4.39% from 4.34%. The yield on the 30-year grew to 4.92% from 4.87%.
In London, Melrose Industries led the FTSE 100 index as it climbed 5.8%.
The aerospace firm left its guidance unchanged and raised its interim dividend by 20% to 2.4 pence from 2.0p as it reported half year results.
It swung to a pretax profit of GBP379 million from a loss of GBP105 million a year ago, while adjusted pretax profit was up 24% to GBP248 million from GBP204 million.
Revenue fell 1.3% to GBP1.72 billion from GBP1.74 billion, but was up 6% on a like-for-like basis.
International Consolidated Airlines Group climbed 1.8%.
The firm hailed a strong performance in the first half of 2025, with the British Airways owner expecting "good earnings growth and margin progression" for the full year.
IAG, which also owns Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, said pretax profit in the six months to June 30 rose 67% to EUR1.75 billion from EUR1.05 billion a year prior. In the second quarter alone, pretax profit rose by a third to EUR1.51 billion from EUR1.13 billion.
Revenue during the half-year rose 8.0% to EUR15.91 billion from EUR14.72 billion a year earlier. For the second quarter, it increased 6.8% to EUR8.86 billion from EUR8.30 billion.
The company said it is 57% booked for the second half. Booked revenue is in line with the prior year.
Intertek Group was the biggest lagger on the blue-chip index and fell 7.1%.
The assurance, inspection, product testing and certification company said revenue was little changed at GBP1.67 billion. Pretax profit jumped 9.8% to GBP226.5 million from GBP206.2 million.
It declared an interim dividend of 57.3p per share, up from 53.9p.
The company expects mid-single-digit like-for-like revenue growth at constant currency and margin progression in 2025.
It noted that the average sterling exchange rate in the last three months applied to 2024 results would reduce full year revenue by 350 basis points and full year earnings by 500 basis points.
The biggest climber on the FTSE 250 index was Kier Group, which was up 3.4%.
On Friday, Panmure Liberum raised its price target for the construction firm to 322p from 250p and maintained a 'buy' rating.
On the AIM market, Cel AI sank 19%.
The artificial intelligence agent deployment platform said it intends to move its listing to the Acquest Stock Exchange Growth Market from the London Main Market.
It said admission to the AQSE Growth Market is expected to occur on September 1.
"By shifting our listing, we unlock the flexibility needed to execute our Bitcoin treasury strategy aggressively - an essential component of our long-term vision. This transition ensures we can fully pursue our strategic goals without the constraints of the current listing framework, strengthening both our balance sheet resilience and our ability to create lasting shareholder value," said Executive Chair Olivia Edwards.
Gold was quoted at USD3,286.10 an ounce early Friday, lower than USD3,292.45 on Thursday. Brent oil rose to USD71.72 a barrel from USD71.11.
Still to come on Friday's economic calendar is a UK manufacturing purchasing managers' index reading due shortly.
Later, there is the consumer price index for the eurozone, with manufacturing PMI and nonfarm payrolls figures in the US.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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