London pre-open: Stocks set to tumble as tariffs kick in
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Wednesday 09 Apr 2025
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to tumble at the open on Wednesday as Trump's sweeping tariffs came into force, including a swingeing 104% on China.
The FTSE 100 was called to open around 3.4% lower.
Dozens of countries, including a number of America's traditional trading partners, have had so-called reciprocal tariffs imposed on them by Washington, the highest in decades.
China's record rate was announced after Beijing refused to rule out retaliatory levies on US products.
The tariff regime, first announced on 2 April, has caused carnage on global markets, sending both equities and oil tumbling.
Equity markets rallied yesterday following days of falls, but Asian markets slumped once again overnight as the tariffs took effect.
Benchmark Brent crude, meanwhile, had lost nearly 4% by 0700 BST, at $60.57 a barrel. WTI was also 4% lower, at $57.22.
Trump acknowledged the tariffs had been "somewhat explosive". But he insisted: "After years of being ripped off, it's America's turn to do the ripping." He also said countries remained keen to negotiate trade deals with Washington.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said: "Hopes of seeing Donald Trump roll back tariffs before they go live were dashed this morning - along with sentiment across global financial markets.
"The Nikkei is down more than 2%, a Bloomberg index tracking Asian currencies fell to a record low, and European and US futures hint at another very, very ugly trading session, with losses between 2-4% at the time of writing. I won't say much about yesterday's rebound: moves of that magnitude - above 2-3% - aren't sustainable unless there's a clear resolution to the tariff problem.
"China, on the other hand, is seeing limited losses across the CSI 300 companies. Despite being hit by 104% tariffs starting today, Chinese authorities said they will 'fight to the end'. That likely includes massive and unprecedented measures to keep the economy afloat. One of them: letting the yuan weaken to absorb part of the tariff cost. The USDCNY has dropped to its lowest levels since 2007 this morning. Expect rate cuts, liquidity injections, and other measures to follow, one after the other, as China digs in."
In corporate news, Assura said it has rejected a £1.5bn merger proposal from Primary Health Properties, saying it "is not at a level that is sufficient to be recommended to shareholders".
Under the terms of the PHP Proposal, Assura shareholders would receive 0.3848 new PHP shares and 9.08 pence in cash.
Recruiter PageGroup said that its slower end to the fourth quarter has continued into the new financial year, with the full-year outlook now uncertain due to an "increasingly unpredictable economic environment".
In a statement, chief executive Nicholas Kirk said: "Given the recent introduction of tariffs and the resultant market uncertainty, we are not providing forward-looking guidance on business performance."
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