London open: Stocks surge on 90-day tariff pause; Tesco bucks trend

10th Apr 2025 08:50

(Sharecast News) - London stocks surged in early trade on Thursday, taking their cue from whopping gains in the US and Asia after Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs for most countries except China.

At 0845 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 5.4% at 8,096.00.

Trump said on Wednesday that countries that were subjected to reciprocal tariff rates would see the rate go back down to 10% to allow for trade negotiations.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said: "Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World's Markets, I am hereby raising the tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately.

"At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realise that the days of ripping off the USA, and other countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable"

Speaking to reporters after the announcement, he said: "China wants to make a deal, they just don't know how quite to go about it."

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The White House has finally seen some sense and given a whole host of countries a 90 day pause, with reciprocal tariffs immediately lowered to 10%, while isolating China in a tense battle.

"Was this Trump caving to pressure or his master plan all along? Who knows, but markets ripped on the news with the S&P 500 posting its 9th best day in history and the FTSE 100 opening a more subdued 1.2% higher this morning.

"We still don't know if this tariff strategy is going to do more harm than good, and this should not be confused with a resolution to the underlying impact on areas like inflation and global growth. But it does give a host of countries a chance to come to the table and barter for a deal, while offering companies some much needed time to make whatever supply chain adjustments they can.

"What this means for the EU is still unclear, but given countermeasures were already declared it could find itself on Trump's naughty list, as ever we await more clarity."

On home shores, a survey showed that activity across the housing market slowed last month as price growth flattened out and new buyer demand slowed.

According to the latest Residential Market Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the house price balance fell to 2 in March, from 11 in February and 20 in January.

New buyer demand, meanwhile, declined from -16 a month earlier to -32, the weakest reading since September 2023.

Respondents said the rush to complete sales before changes to stamp duty came into effect on 1 April tailed off as the month wore on.

Agreed sales were also marginally softer, down three points on February at -16.

Looking ahead, a majority of survey participants still expect sales volumes to rise long term. But they were more cautious shorter-term, with the three-month sales expectations pointing to a further dip in activity.

Rics noted: "Looking to next month, the impact on the UK property market from newly-imposed US global tariffs and potential tariff responses by other nations may stimulate further uncertainty going forward."

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at Rics, said: "The expiry of the stamp duty break was always going to lead to a pause in activity in the sales market.

"However, the latest results, and indeed the anecdotal remarks from respondents to the survey, suggest that the shift in sentiment has been aggravated by the slew of negative macro news flow over the past few weeks.

"Looking forward, the impact on the market will in no small part depend on how the economy is affected by the emerging trade war and the response of the Bank of England to the shifting environment."

In equity markets, Barclays was the top performer on the FTSE 100, up 15.5%, closely followed by Melrose Industries and St James's Place.

On the FTSE 250, Bodycote, Computacenter and Watches of Switzerland all racked up strong gains.

On the downside, Tesco slid as it warned profits in the current year could be squeezed, as competition from rivals ramps up.

The UK's biggest grocer said group sales in the year to February 2025, excluding VAT and fuel, had jumped 3.5% to £63.64bn.

Group adjusted operating profits rose 10.6% to at £3.13bn, of which retail adjusted operating profit rose 7.7% at £2.97bn.

However, looking to the current year, the supermarket chain adopted a more cautious tone, following a "further increase in the competitive intensity of the UK market".

As a result, it now expects group adjusted operating profit to come in between £2.7bn and £3.0bn in the 2025/26 full year.

Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer also lost ground.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,096.00 5.42%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,899.23 5.64%

techMARK (TASX) 4,392.41 6.22%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Barclays (BARC) 279.20p 15.54%

Melrose Industries (MRO) 434.50p 12.59%

St James's Place (STJ) 914.20p 12.31%

Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 1,762.00p 12.30%

Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,287.00p 11.80%

CRH (CDI) (CRH) 6,842.00p 11.40%

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 76.92p 11.19%

Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,586.00p 10.54%

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 258.50p 10.33%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 969.20p 10.29%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Tesco (TSCO) 316.40p -5.61%

Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 225.00p -4.58%

Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 356.70p -2.49%

British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,076.00p -0.13%

Severn Trent (SVT) 2,485.00p -0.08%

RELX FINANCE BV 3.375% GTD NTS 20/03/33 (BW73) 99.72p 0.00%

Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,806.00p 0.07%

Next (NXT) 10,975.00p 0.09%

National Grid (NG.) 975.20p 0.21%

United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,016.00p 0.30%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Bodycote (BOY) 600.00p 27.28%

Computacenter (CCC) 2,660.00p 23.03%

Bridgepoint Group (Reg S) (BPT) 272.80p 18.71%

Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 376.00p 15.13%

Carnival (CCL) 1,335.50p 12.89%

Ferrexpo (FXPO) 51.50p 12.81%

Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 357.00p 12.80%

Trustpilot Group (TRST) 210.80p 12.43%

Ithaca Energy (ITH) 137.50p 11.61%

Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT) 291.00p 11.28%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ruffer Investment Company Ltd Red PTG Pref Shares (RICA) 276.00p -1.95%

ITV (ITV) 65.95p -0.38%

BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares (BHMG) 395.00p -0.25%

PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) 1,196.00p 0.00%

European Opportunities Trust (EOT) 758.00p 0.00%

Tami Senior Securitisation 2 Ltd Cls A-2 Mb Fxd Rte Nts 31/12/23 (Reg S) (BP00) 0.00p 0.00%

North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 3,300.00p 0.00%

Fidelity Emerging Markets Limited Ptg NPV (FEML) 634.00p 0.00%

Renewi (RWI) 854.00p 0.00%

Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 83.90p 0.00%