24th Apr 2025 09:07
(Alliance News) - London opened in the red on Thursday amid a weakened economic outlook among UK consumers, and ahead of UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves' meeting with the US Treasury secretary on Friday.
The FTSE 100 index opened down 13.40 points, 0.2%, at 8,389.78. The FTSE 250 was down 99.61 points, 0.5%, at 19,383.44, and the AIM All-Share was down 5.14 points, 0.8%, at 671.34.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.2% at 834.54, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.5% at 16,913.13, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.4% at 15,374.13.
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves has travelled to the US capital for the International Monetary Fund's spring meetings of G7 and G20 finance ministers.
She is also expected to meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday in an attempt to make progress on negotiations for a UK-US economic deal aimed at mitigating the impact of tariffs announced by Trump earlier this month.
The chancellor has appeared to rule out at least some changes to non-tariff barriers that the US is thought to be seeking. One sticking point is likely to be agricultural imports, with some US exports not meeting UK food standards. Reeves insisted that the government would not dilute British standards as part of a trade deal, telling BBC News the US administration "respect and understand that".
She also appeared to rule out changes to the Online Safety Act, which some US politicians regard as restricting free speech, telling Sky News: "We've just passed the Online Safety Act and the safety, particularly of our children, is non-negotiable for the British government." Asked about changes to road safety laws that would allow American SUVs to be sold in the UK, she said the government was "not going to water down areas of road safety".
Meanwhile, Wednesday saw Reeves announce the government would take action to stop high street retailers being "undercut" by cheap imports, beefing up the Trade Remedies Authority and reviewing the rules on low-value imports.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3286 early on Thursday in London, higher compared to USD1.3274 at the equities close on Wednesday. The euro stood at USD1.1372, higher against USD1.1367.
Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY142.69, up compared to JPY142.42.
In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.7%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt faded 0.8%.
Germany is expected to lower its economic forecast for 2025 to zero growth in what is shaping up to be another difficult year for Europe's biggest economy reeling from two consecutive years of recession. Outgoing Economy Minister Robert Habeck is due to present the government's revised forecast at 1215 BST, after Berlin previously predicted gross domestic product to grow by 0.3% in January.
But government sources said the outgoing centre-left coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz now expects the economy to stagnate in 2025, with little sign of relief following the recessions of 2023 and 2024.
Meanwhile, UK consumer sentiment weakened sharply in April, as fears over a potential trade war weighed heavily on economic expectations, new survey data from the British Retail Consortium showed.
According to the BRC-Opinium consumer sentiment monitor, expectations for the state of the UK economy over the next three months fell to a net score of negative 48, down significantly from negative 35 in March. Expectations for personal finances also worsened, dropping to negative 16 from negative 10.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended in the green, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.1%, the S&P 500 1.7% higher and the Nasdaq Composite edging up 2.5%.
President Trump said a deal to halt the Ukraine war was "very close" Wednesday but hit out at Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky over his refusal to formally cede Crimea to Russia. Trump's comments came as Vice President JD Vance warned that the US would "walk away" unless Russia and Ukraine agree on a peace deal.
US media has reported that Trump is ready to accept recognition of annexed land in Crimea as Russian territory, but Zelensky told journalists this week it was Ukrainian territory and recognising it as Russian "is against our constitution".
Trump also announced that new tariffs on imports from China could be set in "two or three weeks," as the trade dispute between the world's two largest economies continues.
"If we don't have a deal with a company or a country, we're going to set the tariff. We just set the tariff," Trump said in the Oval Office. In response to a reporter asking whether the US and China were having direct talks, Trump said "yeah, of course, every day." Asked how soon he intended to reduce the tariffs on Chinese imports to the US, Trump said "that depends on them."
Beijing said on Thursday any claims of ongoing trade talks with Washington were "groundless" after US President Donald Trump played up the prospects of a deal to lower hefty tariffs he imposed on China.
"As the competent department for foreign economic and trade relations, I would like to emphasise that there are currently no economic and trade negotiations between China and the US," Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman He Yadong told a news conference.
In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo improved 0.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was marginally higher, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was dipped 1.0%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.6%.
RWS Holdings lost 33% at London's market open on Thursday.
The technology-enabled language services provider said it expects revenue for the six months that ended March 31 to be around GBP344 million, which would be down 1.8% from the year before. Adjusted pretax profit is expected at around GBP17 million for the six-month period, 63% lower than GBP46 million a year prior.
This was partly due to "weaker" performance in the life sciences segment of its Regulated Industries arm, as well as initial transition costs are clients are onboarded on to new automated delivery models, the firm said.
Looking ahead, RWS anticipates "modest" single digit organic constant currency growth for its financial year due to end September 30, which is in line with previous guidance. RWS is due to release its half-year results on June 17.
Sunda Energy tumbled 21%.
The Southeast Asia-focused gas resource company said it has raised up to USD9 million before expenses through the issue of unsecured convertible loan notes to three institutional investors. Funds will be used to execute a contract for the use of a jack-up rig, to drill its Chuditch-2 appraisal well said the firm.
In addition, subsidiary SundaGas Banda Unipessoal Lda has entered into a farm-in deal with government-owned joint venture partner Timor Gap Chuditch Unipessoal Lda in Timor-Leste. The agreement will increase Timor Gap's working interest in the Chuditch gas field to 70% from 40%.
At the other end, ActiveOps rose 8.3%.
The management process automation software provider expects revenue for the year that ended March 31 to be around GBP30.4 million, up 13% from GBP26.8 million the year before. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation are expected to remain unchanged on-year at around GPB2.4 million.
"While cognisant of the challenging economic environment globally, the number of new customers in the process of implementation, the breadth of expansion opportunities across the customer base and strength of the sales pipeline provide the board with confidence that the group is well positioned to drive further growth across its core markets," said ActiveOps.
Unilever was up 1.0%.
The consumer goods firm revealed it has axed around 6,000 jobs to date as part of an ongoing overhaul that will see it spin off its Ice Cream arm. The restructure, announced last year, will lead to 7,500 job cuts worldwide in a bid to save EUR800 million. It expects to deliver on cost savings of EUR550 million during 2025.
The separation of newly-named Magnum Ice Cream Co remains on track to complete during the fourth quarter of 2025, with the business to be headquartered in Amsterdam and operating on a standalone basis from July 1. Magnum Ice Cream Co will be listed in Amsterdam, London and New York.
Unilever also reported a 0.9% decline in turnover during the first quarter of 2025, slipping to EUR14.8 billion with underlying sales growth of 3.0%. The FTSE 100 constituent declared an interim dividend of 45.28 euro cents for the first quarter, in line with its prior fourth-quarter dividend and up 6.1% on-year. It reconfirmed its full-year outlook for 2025, anticipating underlying sales growth between 3% and 5%, as well as a "modest improvement" in underlying operating margin, against 18.4% in 2024.
Brent oil was quoted lower at USD65.59 a barrel early in London on Thursday from USD65.74 late Wednesday. Gold was quoted higher at USD3,329.33 an ounce against USD3,273.46.
Still to come on Thursday's economic calendar, US durable goods orders data and the weekly jobless claims report.
By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to [email protected]
Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
RWS HoldingsSunda EnergyActiveopsUnilever