24th Jun 2025 08:58
(Alliance News) - European equities surged after the opening bell on Tuesday, after Israel confirmed it agreed to a ceasefire with Iran.
The FTSE 100's advance was tempered by oil majors, precious metal miners and defence firms struggling. Travel stocks registered strong rises, however.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 40.70 points, 0.5%, at 8,798.74. The FTSE 250 rose 190.65 points, 0.9% at 21,311.60, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.23 of a point, at 759.52.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.5% at 877.22, the Cboe UK 250 was 0.9% higher at 18,838.17, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.1% at 17,245.38.
In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 jumped 1.6%. The CAC 40 in Paris was 1.3% higher.
The Israeli government has confirmed the ceasefire with Iran, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informing his Cabinet that Israel had achieved all its war objectives, according to Netanyahu's office.
Israel had even achieved far beyond its objectives, so it agreed to the proposal by US President Donald Trump for a ceasefire with Iran, Netanyahu's office said on Tuesday.
Trump's announcement in Washington came several hours earlier, and was followed by a post on X from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said Tehran would halt its military response if Israel ended attacks.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that a "complete and total" ceasefire between Israel and Iran had been reached and would begin within hours.
A barrel of Brent tumbled to USD68.81 on Tuesday morning, from USD76.39 at the time of the London equities close on Monday. Gold fell to USD3,320.41 an ounce from USD3,387.65.
Shell and BP fell 5.5% and 4.1%, tracking Brent lower. Endeavour Mining and Fresnillo declined 3.1% and 1.8%, amid the decline in the gold price. Harbour Energy slumped 10%, while Ithaca shed 7.0%.
Shares in Energean fell 2.1%. The company earlier this month temporarily halted production at its Energean Power floating production, storage, and offloading unit following an order from the Israeli Ministry of Energy & Infrastructure.
The stock initially tumbled following the start of the conflict, but recovered and registered six successive advances before surrendering ground on Tuesday.
Also on the decline, defence firm BAE Systems shed 1.7%.
British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group and budget carrier easyJet each advanced 6.3%, meanwhile. Low-cost airline Wizz Air rose 5.2%, while hotel company InterContinental added 2.8%.
Elsewhere, Gulf Marine Services added 7.7%. Shares in the Abu Dhabi-based provider of self-propelled and self-elevating support vessels for the offshore energy sector had struggled since the onset of the armed conflict between Israel and Iran.
Even prior to the ceasefire announcement, the mood in equities was optimistic.
In New York on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9%, the S&P 500 added 1.0% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.9%.
Iran on Monday said that it attacked American forces stationed at Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base. The attack came shortly after Qatar closed its airspace as a precaution amid threats from Iran.
Shore Capital Markets analyst James Hosie said the retaliation eased the risk that Iran "could follow through with threats to disrupt tanker movements through the Strait of Hormuz".
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury widened to 4.33% early Tuesday UK time, from 4.31% at the time of the closing bell on the London Stock Exchange on Monday. The 30-year yield stretched to 4.87% from 4.84%.
Sterling rose to USD1.3564 from USD1.3501, the euro bought USD1.1586, up from USD1.1545 and against the yen, the dollar fell to JPY145.21 from JPY146.37.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.4%, while the S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney added 1.0%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.2%, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong shot up 2.1%.
US President Trump once again attacked Jerome Powell on Tuesday to demand that he cut the country's interest rates, as the head of the Federal Reserve is expected to appear in front of Congress.
Powell is due Tuesday to head to Capitol Hill to present the Fed's semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress' House Financial Services Committee – sparking another missive from Trump.
"'Too Late' Jerome Powell, of the Fed, will be in Congress today in order to explain, among other things, why he is refusing to lower the Rate," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
A key US central bank official called Monday for an interest rate cut as early as July if inflation effects from President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs remain limited.
The comments by Federal Reserve vice chair for supervision Michelle Bowman came days after Fed Governor Christopher Waller said the bank could lower rates as soon as next month – amid differences among officials on how they should respond to levies.
"Should inflation pressures remain contained, I would support lowering the policy rate as soon as our next meeting in order to bring it closer to its neutral setting and to sustain a healthy labour market," Bowman said in prepared remarks for a conference in Prague.
In its policy meeting this month, the Fed held its benchmark lending rate at a range between 4.25% and 4.50%, keeping it unchanged so far this year. The next meeting is on July 30.
On this side of Atlantic, central bankers will also be in focus. Bank of England Governor Andrew is among the policymakers speaking on Tuesday. He speaks to the Lords Economic Affairs Committee in the afternoon. Megan Greene, Dave Ramsden and Sarah Breeden are also in action in other events on Tuesday.
Back in London, Mears Group added 4.1%. it expects half-year profit to be ahead of the prior year, on "strong trading". It also predicts earnings will top expectations for the full-year.
The provider of services to the UK housing sector said it saw "solid growth in its Maintenance-led activities".
"As anticipated, Management-led activities have continued to normalise as Asylum related contingent solutions are replaced with long-term residential accommodation. This transition continues to be managed well," Mears added.
"Operating margins have continued to strengthen, and profits have once again been underpinned by strong operating cash flows."
Mears expects pretax profit for the first half of 2025 to be ahead of the GBP30.8 million reported a year prior. For the full-year it expects results to be "modestly ahead of current market expectations", which it puts at GBP1.06 billion for revenue and GBP50.9 million for adjusted pretax profit.
Saga advanced 3.0%. It said it has traded in line with expectations early in its financial year, with all "businesses performing well". Saga said trading to date in the new year, so the period from February 1 up to now, has started "on a positive note".
The provider of products and services for people over 50 said its Ocean & River Cruise offering "had another strong start to the year", with booked load factors for the first half ahead of the same point 12 months ago. Holidays unit bookings are ahead of the prior year, while its insurance underwriting business continues to trade in line with expectations.
"Insurance Broking is trading in line with expectations and the transition to the 20-year partnership with Ageas, remains on track for Q4 2025," Saga added.
CEO Mike Hazell said: "I am pleased to report that Saga has started the financial year on a positive note, with all our businesses performing well and in line with expectations. Looking ahead, we are focussed on continuing to grow our Travel and Money businesses, while successfully transitioning to our new simplified Insurance model.
"We are progressing well with our medium-term plans and the potential new partnership with NatWest is another good example of this."
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
Comments and questions to [email protected]
Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
InterContinental HotelsWizz AireasyJetInternational AirlinesBPShellHarbour EnergyEnergean Oil & GasIthaca EnergyBAE SystemsMearsSagaFresnilloEndeavour Mining