1st Apr 2025 08:41
(Alliance News) - Stocks in Europe opened higher on Tuesday, with the FTSE 100 enjoying a largely broad-based recovery, after a tricky start to the week on tariff worries.
The FTSE 100 index was up 55.79 points, 0.7%, at 8,638.60. The FTSE 250 rose 59.90 points, 0.3%, at 19,535.38, and the AIM All-Share added 4.16 points, 0.6%, at 686.15.
The Cboe UK 100 rose 0.7% at 861.22, the Cboe UK 250 rose 0.2% to 16,989.56, but the Cboe Small Companies fell 0.1% to 15,145.24.
The CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was 0.9% higher.
The FTSE 100 advanced 5.0% in the first-quarter of the year.
"March is over, the pain is probably not. Global equity markets kicked off the week on a negative note ahead of the so-called liberation day, April 2nd, the day the Trump administration will reveal the reciprocal tariffs to the rest of the world," Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya commented.
In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.3% on Tuesday. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was also up 0.3%. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was 0.4% higher, while Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.0%.
Against the dollar, sterling rose slightly to USD1.2907 early Tuesday, from USD1.2904 at the time of the London equities close on Monday. They euro was flat at USD1.0800 from USD1.0801. Against the yen, the dollar bought JPY149.88, up slightly from JPY149.85.
US President Donald Trump said Monday he would be "very kind" to trading partners when he unveils further tariffs this week, risking global turmoil to address what he says are unfair trade imbalances.
Trump – who has been making unprecedented use of presidential powers since taking office in January – said he could announce as early as Tuesday night exactly what "reciprocal tariffs" will be imposed.
The Republican billionaire insists that reciprocal action is needed because the world's biggest economy has been "ripped off by every country in the world," promising "liberation day" for the US.
The UK is expecting to be hit by Donald Trump's tariffs this week, Downing Street has said, as discussions with the US are set to continue beyond Wednesday.
Keir Starmer's official spokesman said on Monday: "When it comes to tariffs the prime minister has been clear he will always act in the national interest and we've been actively preparing for all eventualities ahead of the expected announcements from President Trump this week, which we would expect the UK to be impacted by alongside other countries.
"Our trade teams are continuing to have constructive discussions to agree a UK-US economic prosperity deal.
"But we will only do a deal which reflects this government's mandate to deliver economic stability for the British people, and we will only act in the national interest."
Equities succumbed to tariff worries on Monday, but perked up on Tuesday, with only a handful of FTSE 100 constituents trading lower. Grocers were among those in the red.
Sainsbury's fell 2.3%, while Tesco lost 1.4%. Ocado fell 1.5%.
Kantar reported UK grocery sales increased 1.8% on-year in the four weeks to March 23, the slowest rate of growth since June last year.
Travis Perkins shed 8.6%. The builders' merchant has "number of areas where the business needs to refocus", its chair admitted.
Travis Perkins reported a pretax loss of GBP38.4 million in 2024, swinging from profit of GBP121.4 million in 2023. Revenue declined 4.7% to GBP4.61 billion from GBP4.84 billion. Also hurting its bottom line were GBP139 million worth of adjusting items, rising markedly from GBP27 million a year prior. These included a branch impairment of GBP63 million, and a GBP33 million impairment at the Staircraft business.
Chair Geoff Drabble said: "Since joining the board of Travis Perkins, I have been encouraged by the breadth and depth of our market footprint, the quality and commitment of our people and the strength of our relationships within the construction industry. However, it is clear to the management team that there are a number of areas where the business needs to refocus and change the way it operates in order to better serve our customers and effectively support our suppliers. Several initial steps have been taken under Pete Redfern's leadership to begin rebuilding trust and confidence, both internally and externally, with focused leadership roles restored in all our businesses and actions taken to re-engage and motivate our teams."
Strip Tinning added 73% on AIM as it predicted a narrower loss and said the supply of an offering for a US pact will likely not fall into the crosshairs of auto tariffs.
The supplier of specialist connection systems to the automotive sector expects its adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in 2025 to be GBP900,000, "half that reported" for 2024.
"Trading in the Battery Technologies division has been strong, and the board now expects divisional revenue for FY25 to be more than 2.5 times FY24. This strong performance in the higher margin BT division is more than offsetting softness in the Glazing division, reflective of the wider automotive sector," it added.
Strip is supplying a Cell Contact System for battery pack modules for a US based autonomous vehicle programme.
"This contract is gathering pace and is the primary driver of the increased sales in 2025 as sales of pre-production parts has increased," it added.
"The board does not currently anticipate the supply of the CCS will fall under the recently proposed US auto parts tariffs, as the designated export commodity category code, under which the CCS is already being exported to the US, does not fall within the automotive parts ECC coding categorisations."
In addition, Strip said it has applied for a UK government automotive grant for up to GBP5.2 million as it continues to "assess its optimum options" to secure funding needed for operational demands.
"Having passed the expression of interest stage of the application process, the board can now confirm it is in the detailed application phase and further news on the outcome is anticipated in early Q3," it added.
Gold traded at USD3,133.83 an ounce early Tuesday, rising from USD3,116.44 at the time of the London equities close on Monday. A barrel of Brent advanced to USD74.77 from USD74.42.
Still to come on Tuesday is a eurozone purchasing managers' index reading at 0900 BST, before the UK data at 0930.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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