24th Jul 2025 08:59
(Alliance News) - European equities opened in the green on Thursday, as the UK strikes a GBP6 billion trade deal with India and UK vehicle manufacturing falls amid wider market uncertainty.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 48.55 points, 0.5%, at 9,110.04. The FTSE 250 was up 98.07 points, 0.5%, at 22,111.56, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.17 points, 0.2%, at 775.16.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.6% at 909.48, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.6% at 19,438.89, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.5% at 17,595.64.
In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris was 0.5% higher, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt advanced 1.0%.
Keir Starmer and India's Narendra Modi are set to sign off on a trade deal worth GBP6 billion in investment for the British economy.
The UK prime minister and his Indian counterpart also agreed ahead of their meeting on Thursday to ramp up joint efforts to tackle illegal migration and organised crime.
The UK-India trade deal is understood to be the largest of its kind for its economic impact on Britain.
It will see tariffs on an array of British goods reduced from an average of 15% to 3%, with the aim of boosting the GBP11 billion of imports into the south Asian nation.
Whisky tariffs will be slashed in half, according to the government, and will fall further over successive years, while other industries including soft drinks, cars and cosmetics are also expected to see cheaper duties.
The pound was quoted up at USD1.3561 early on Thursday in London, compared to USD1.3571 at the equities close on Wednesday. The euro stood at USD1.1761, up against USD1.1737. Against the yen, the dollar was trading slightly higher at JPY146.36 compared to JPY146.33.
Howden Joinery was the biggest winner on the FTSE 100 at London's market open, up 9.2%.
The London-based kitchen and joinery supplier reported pretax profit of GBP117.2 million for the six months that ended June 14, rising 4.4% from GBP112.3 million in the six months to June 15, 2024. Revenue improved 3.2% to GBP997.6 million from GBP966.3 million.
Howden declared an interim dividend of 5.0 pence per share, 2.0% higher than 4.9p the year before.
"We are well prepared for the second half, which includes our seasonally important peak trading period. This includes Howdens' best-ever line-up for kitchens, available for 2025 in more colours, styles, and finishes to suit all budgets," said Chief Executive Officer Andrew Livingston. "While market conditions remain challenging, our trade customers are highly skilled at winning work in such times backed by Howdens' well-incentivised depot teams, unrivalled product quality and industry leading stock availability."
Reckitt Benckiser was close behind, rising 9.0%.
The Slough, England-based consumer health and hygiene products firm said pretax profit declined 14% to GBP1.31 billion in the six months that ended June 30, from GBP1.52 billion the year before. Net revenue fell 2.6% to GBP6.98 billion from GBP7.17 billion.
Nonetheless, the company declared an interim dividend of 84.4 pence per share, up 5.0% on-year from 80.4p. Reckitt also announced a new share buyback programme for up to GBP1.0 billion over the next twelve months, to begin "imminently". This follows its completion of another GBP1.0 billion programme in June.
Further, Reckitt upgraded its outlook, targeting like-for-like net revenue growth to above 4% in Core Reckitt for financial 2025, compared to between 3% and 4% previously.
At the other end, Vesuvius faded 10%.
The London-based molten metal flow engineering and technology company anticipates earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the first half of the year to be around GBP77 million. This would be down 21% from GBP97.2 million the year before.
This is the result of "challenging market conditions", which Vesuvius now expects will persist for the remainder of the year, meaning second half performance is anticipated broadly in line with its first half. Further progress is postponed until 2026, the company added.
In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo gained 1.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite advanced 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 0.4%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney lost 0.3%.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.1% higher, the S&P 500 up 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite rising 0.6%.
UK vehicle manufacturing fell in the first half of the year as the sector continued to grapple with global economic and trade uncertainty.
British car output fell 7.3% in the first six months of the year, while van and other commercial vehicle production plummeted by 45.4%, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders, SMMT.
According to the organisation, production was slowed or halted by some manufacturers due to uncertainty around the global economy and earlier threats of US tariffs.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the US is prepared to lower threatened tariffs on European goods if the EU opens its market further to US companies.
"If they agree to open up the union to American businesses, then we will let them pay a lower tariff," Trump said at an artificial intelligence-focused event, referring to the ongoing negotiations with the EU. He added that serious talks were currently underway.
The US has been negotiating with the EU for weeks on a trade deal to prevent US tariffs of 30% on imports from the bloc from taking effect on August 1.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.40%, widening from 4.34%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.96%, stretching from 4.91%.
Brent oil was quoted higher at USD69.02 a barrel early in London on Thursday from USD68.24 late Wednesday. Gold was quoted up at USD3,376.40 an ounce against USD3,412.38.
Still to come on Thursday's economic calendar, the eurozone interest rate decision, Canadian retail sales data, US initial weekly jobless claims figures, plus a slew of flash composite PMI reports.
By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
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