London midday: Stocks stay down amid tariff concerns
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Tuesday 04 Mar 2025
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still in the red by midday on Tuesday as concerns about tariffs rattled markets.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 8,844.95.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "Donald Trump forged a reputation for being Mr Unpredictable during his first term as US president. This time he's on a mission to do something dramatic on a daily basis and markets continue to be taken aback by the pace and ferocity of his decisions. He is sending a clear message to the world: 'Don't mess with Donald'.
"Investors were desperately hoping that Trump would delay tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China at the eleventh hour, yet the US president has stuck to his guns and brought them into power. Naturally, the recipients have started to retaliate and that has raised the prospect of a full-blown trade war.
"Investors knew there was a real chance this would happen but quietly hoped it would all go away and simply be Trump having a bark worse than his bite. Not this time around.
"Layered on top is Trump's decision to pause US military aid to Ukraine showing you've got a political leader who is determined to show the world who's boss."
Canada has already announced that retaliatory tariffs on CAD30bn of US imports would take effect immediately, while China said it will impose tariffs of up to 15% one some US goods from 10 March.
On home shores, data from the British Retail Consortium and NielsenIQ showed that shop prices were lower in February when compared with last year, as cheaper non-food items offset the impact of costlier food products, but inflation is expected to pick up over the course of 2025.
According to the Shop Price Index for last month, shop price deflation was unchanged at an annual rate of -0.7%.
Non-food deflation accelerated to a year-on-year rate of -2.1% following a 1.8% decline in prices in January, though annual food inflation rose to 2.1% from 1.6%.
Nevertheless, when compared with the month before, shop prices actually increased by 0.4%, with both food and non-food prices rising, marking the biggest increase over the past year.
"Breakfast, in particular, got more expensive as butter, cheese, eggs, bread and cereals all saw price hikes. Climbing global coffee prices could threaten to push the morning costs higher in the coming months," said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC.
In equity markets, oil giants BP and Shell gushed lower as oil prices plunged.
Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Brent crude is now priced at under $71 per barrel as both supply and demand dynamics exert downward pressure on the value of oil. 10% of extra duties on Chinese goods have also come into effect and the potential fall-out of an all-out trade war on energy demand is at the front of traders' minds.
"Meanwhile, OPEC+ has unexpectedly announced that it will re-open the taps on 2.2 million barrels of daily oil production from 1 April."
Equipment rental firm Ashtead slid despite saying it expects full-year results to rise in line with previous guidance, after a record performance over the first nine months of the year, with rental revenues up 5% and adjusted EBITDA up 3%.
Biotechnology company Oxford Nanopore slumped as it warned of "material uncertainty and risk" surrounding its US business after Donald Trump said he would cut federal government spending by up to $1.0trn per year.
Greggs tumbled as the bakery chain said sales slowed again at the start of the new financial year, citing "challenging" weather conditions in January. Like-for-like sales in company-managed shops increased by 1.7% year-on-year in the first nine weeks of 2025. Challenging weather conditions in January were followed by improved trading in February, Greggs said.
On the upside, Intertek surged as it hiked its full-year dividend and launched a £350m share buyback programme to reward shareholders after a strong 2024 performance, with results helped by recent acquisitions.
The laboratory testing and certification business also raised its medium-term margin target after achieving its current target faster than expected.
Fresnillo shone as the precious metals miner posted a big jump in full-year sales and operating profits. Revenues rose by 26.9% to $3.64bn and its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation by more than double to $1.55bn.
Keller Group rallied as the geotechnical engineering company reported an increase in underlying annual profits that beat market expectations and a share buyback programme, bolstered by a record year-end order book.
Asset manager Abrdn gained as it said it was putting the missing vowels back into its name and reported a swing back into the black.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,844.95 -0.30%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,229.66 -0.75%
techMARK (TASX) 4,858.05 0.29%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,530.00p 7.27%
Fresnillo (FRES) 781.00p 3.58%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,504.00p 2.83%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 795.20p 2.37%
Tesco (TSCO) 386.60p 2.28%
Pearson (PSON) 1,379.00p 2.15%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,165.00p 1.97%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 3,412.00p 1.85%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 371.40p 1.84%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 981.00p 1.81%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,883.00p -5.20%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,557.00p -5.04%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 329.30p -4.61%
BP (BP.) 413.65p -4.41%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 7,700.00p -4.23%
WPP (WPP) 613.20p -4.10%
Barclays (BARC) 298.75p -3.97%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 4,058.00p -3.56%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 999.20p -3.37%
easyJet (EZJ) 488.60p -2.94%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Keller Group (KLR) 1,446.00p 12.27%
Abrdn (ABDN) 180.60p 11.48%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 189.80p 3.38%
Foresight Solar Fund Limited (FSFL) 79.70p 2.97%
Spectris (SXS) 2,712.00p 2.81%
Urban Logistics Reit (SHED) 117.60p 2.62%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 467.80p 2.50%
PRS Reit (The) (PRSR) 114.20p 1.60%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 721.00p 1.48%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 217.00p 1.40%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 93.60p -10.94%
Greggs (GRG) 1,860.00p -10.66%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 72.80p -6.91%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,470.00p -6.55%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 241.10p -5.04%
Senior (SNR) 166.80p -4.90%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 217.00p -4.45%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 385.00p -4.35%
Currys (CURY) 87.85p -4.04%
Ibstock (IBST) 156.80p -3.92%
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN