London open: FTSE touch lower amid US recession fears; Persimmon surges
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Tuesday 11 Mar 2025
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were just a touch lower in early trade on Tuesday as worries about a US recession continued to dent sentiment, and as data showed that UK retail sales growth slowest last month.
At 0835 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% at 8,595.94.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "UK markets have managed to find some footing after yesterday's global market selloff, with the FTSE 100 broadly flat at the open. Markets are jittery and volatility seems like the only certainty while the White House pushes hard to usher in a new era, seemingly happy for stock markets to be collateral damage.
"US markets have finally faced a harsh reality that the Trump administration's investor-friendly narrative was nothing more than a fantasy. They're now pricing in a very real chance that the president's carrot and stick approach to global politics will push the US into a recession."
On home shores, data released earlier by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG showed that retail sales growth slowed again in February as poor fashion sales weighed down non-food spend.
The monthly BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor report showed that UK retail sales rose at a year-on-year rate of 1.1% last month, compared with a 2.6% gain in January and the 3.2% growth registered in December.
However, while this was below the three-month average growth rate of 2.4%, this was still above the 12-month average of 0.8%.
Food sales were 2.3% higher than last February, though non-food sales were flat year-on-year.
"While sales growth across non-food categories was generally muted, it was propped up by online purchases, particularly in computing and electronics. Jewellery, watches and fragrance sold well thanks to Valentine's Day, reversing declines seen last year, and furniture also returned to growth," said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC.
"Fashion performed poorly due to the gloomy weather throughout the month, but retailers are hopeful the early March sunshine kickstarts spending on Spring and Summer wardrobes."
Looking ahead, Dickinson said retailers will have "little choice" but to raise prices or cut investment ahead of the £7bn in new costs, with higher wage bills, National Insurance contributions and a new packaging levy set to kick in.
"It is time for government to course correct to ensure investment and growth are not undermined," she said.
In equity markets, airlines were in the red, with BA and Iberia owner IAG and easyJet the worst performers on the FTSE 100.
Banks also fell, with Standard Chartered, Barclays and Lloyds all weaker.
Infrastructure services firm Kier Group slumped even as it posted a rise in first-half profit and revenue and lifted its dividend as it hailed a record order book.
Spirax Group lost ground even as it said it managed to grow organic revenues across the board in 2024 despite industrial production growth being weaker than expected in the second half.
On the upside, housebuilder Persimmon surged to the top of the FTSE 100 as it reported a 10% jump in full-year underlying pre-tax profit to £395.1m, comfortably ahead of consensus expectations of £384m.
Barratt Redrow, Taylor Wimpey, Berkeley, Crest Nicholson and Vistry also racked up strong gains.
Elsewhere, Rotork, Genuit and TP Icap also rose on the back of results.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,595.94 -0.05%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,903.44 0.14%
techMARK (TASX) 4,769.79 -0.04%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Persimmon (PSN) 1,209.00p 3.29%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 439.40p 2.95%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 115.40p 2.58%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,601.00p 2.04%
SEGRO (SGRO) 705.80p 1.91%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,696.00p 1.87%
Glencore (GLEN) 320.35p 1.60%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,292.50p 1.55%
British Land Company (BLND) 359.60p 1.35%
Diageo (DGE) 2,210.00p 1.24%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 300.10p -3.35%
easyJet (EZJ) 481.40p -2.55%
Games Workshop Group (GAW) 14,090.00p -2.02%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 8,920.00p -1.98%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,149.00p -1.84%
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,376.00p -1.69%
Barclays (BARC) 280.30p -1.49%
St James's Place (STJ) 995.00p -1.49%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 357.60p -1.32%
The Sage Group (SGE) 1,203.50p -1.31%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Rotork (ROR) 329.80p 5.50%
Genuit Group (GEN) 374.50p 4.90%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 426.00p 3.75%
Vistry Group (VTY) 624.00p 3.31%
Harworth Group (HWG) 165.00p 2.80%
Target Healthcare Reit Ltd (THRL) 89.20p 2.76%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 149.40p 2.61%
Bellway (BWY) 2,272.00p 2.34%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,026.00p 2.14%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 482.00p 2.01%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 2,602.00p -3.20%
Kier Group (KIE) 135.60p -3.14%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 284.60p -2.87%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 268.00p -2.55%
Carnival (CCL) 1,346.00p -2.46%
Ithaca Energy (ITH) 128.10p -2.21%
Just Group (JUST) 138.00p -1.99%
Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 5,180.00p -1.89%
Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 211.00p -1.63%
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 93.10p -1.59%
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