Stock prices in London closed higher on Tuesday, after US president Donald Trump’s new August 1 deadline appeared to take some pressure off investors and US consumer expectations were reported to have improved in some areas.
On the other hand, Mr Trump sent correspondence on Monday detailing new tariff rates to more than a dozen US trading partners. These included a 30% levy on goods imported from South Africa, which is reportedly seeking to use the coming weeks to lobby Washington for changes.
AJ Bell’s Dan Coatsworth said: “The Taco (Trump Always Chickens Out) trade is back on the table as the Trump administration’s latest announcements on tariffs offered some relief to financial markets… On the flipside, this only extends the uncertainty, with markets likely to spend the next three weeks trying to guess the ultimate outcome.
“If tariffs are a negotiating strategy it appears they may be a rolling one, with constant bartering and trade policy being used in the service of US foreign policy goals.”
Pamela Coke-Hamilton, director of the United Nations-backed International Trade Centre, struck a similar tone as she warned that the delay “actually extends the period of uncertainty”.
That in turn risks “undermining long-term investment and business contracts and creating further uncertainty and instability”, she told reporters in Geneva.
Predictability, Ms Coke-Hamilton said, is the “one thing businesses need more than anything else”.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 47.65 points, 0.5%, at 8,854.18. The FTSE 250 ended up 43.20 points, 0.2%, at 21,581.68, and the AIM All-Share closed up 3.54 points, 0.5%, at 775.50.
On the FTSE 100, Glencore gained 2.7%.
JPMorgan reinitiated the Baar, Switzerland-based commodity trading and mining company at “overweight”, with a price target of 360 pence.
The broker said group production will “significantly step-up” in the second half, led by copper. It expects this to translate into 150% higher group earnings in 2026, with earnings 250% higher in 2027 compared to 2025.
Unite Group was down 0.5%.
The Bristol, England-based student accommodation provider reiterated 2025 guidance for adjusted Epra earnings per share, which it expects to increase on-year to between 47.5p and 48.25p.
Unite hailed “continuing momentum”, saying it expects to benefit from a pick-up in UK university admission numbers, amid a jump in student visa applications in the first five months of the year.
In local news, UK state finances are on an “unsustainable” path due to a raft of public spending promises the Government “cannot afford” in the longer term, the chair of the UK’s official forecaster has warned.
FTSE 250 constituent Victrex ended down 8.4%.
The Lancashire-based polymer producer warned of weaker-than-expected revenue in its medical division. Sales volume was 1,057 tonnes in the third quarter, up 8.0% on-year, but revenue fell 3.4% to £71.5 million. That left nine-month volume up 13% but nine-month revenue up only 1.9%.
Looking ahead, Victrex said currency movements remain a headwind. It estimates the impact on pre-tax profit will be near £9 million, the top of its previously guided range.
On AIM, Celebrus Technologies surged 22%.
The Sunbury-on-Thames-based data management platform said pre-tax profit increased 5.4% on-year to 7.3 million US dollars in financial 2025, while revenue was down 5.4% to 38.7 million dollars but annual recurring revenue was up 14% to 18.8 million dollars.
Celebrus declared a final dividend of 2.32p per share, up 4.0%. The total dividend for the year was 3.27p per share, 3.8% higher.
The Office for Budget Responsibility had, also on Tuesday, said that public finances are in a “relatively vulnerable position” amid pressure from recent U-turns on planned spending cuts.
Richard Hughes, chair of the OBR, made comments at a briefing in Liverpool indicating that governments will need to adjust spending plans in the longer term to avoid national debt ballooning.
Furthermore, Mr Hughes said that the projected rise in state pension spending linked to the triple lock commitment for annual increases was contributing to growth in national debt.
He said the triple lock “is one of a series of age-related pressures that pushes public spending upwards steadily over a number of years and, as you saw in our previous report, when you project trends in both pension spending and health and other age-related spending forward, the UK public finances are in an unsustainable position in the long-run”.
“The UK cannot afford the array of promises that are displayed to the public if you just leave those unchanged, based on a reasonable assumption about growth rates in the economy and in tax revenues,” he said.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed up 0.6%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended up 0.5%.
The pound was quoted lower at 1.3574 dollars at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday, compared to 1.3641 dollars on Monday. The euro stood at 1.1709 dollars, lower against 1.1735 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at 146.82 yen compared to 145.86 yen.
Stocks in New York were lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2%, the S&P 500 index down 2.10 points, and the Nasdaq Composite down 4.39 points.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.42%, widening from 4.39%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.96%, widening from 4.92%.
US households lowered their short-term inflation expectations in June, while outlooks for income growth and credit access improved, according to the latest survey of consumer expectations from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York published on Tuesday.
The median one-year-ahead inflation expectation fell by 0.2 percentage point to 3.0%, although expectations for the three and five-year horizons held steady at 3.0% and 2.6%, respectively. Inflation uncertainty also decreased at the short and medium-term horizons.
Households’ outlook on their personal finances brightened. The median expected household income growth ticked up to 2.9%, matching the 12-month average, while expected spending growth declined to 4.8%. Fewer respondents reported difficulties accessing credit, and fewer anticipated challenges ahead.
Brent oil was quoted higher at 69.87 dollars a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday, from 68.84 dollars late on Monday.
Gold was quoted lower at 3,297.61 dollars an ounce against 3,320.60 dollars.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were BP, up 11.95p at 383.70p, Glencore, up 8.01p at 305.91p, Prudential, up 23.60p at 924.20p, Standard Chartered, up 30.50p at 1,250.00p, and Schroders, up 9.20p at 377.40p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Endeavour Mining, down 76.00p at 2,214.00p, Rentokil, down 9.20p at 343.00p, Coca-Cola HBC, down 94.00p at 3,912.00p, Coca-Cola Europacific, down 110.00p at 7,010.00p, and ConvaTec, down 3.80p at 259.60p.
On Wednesday’s economic calendar, China has consumer and producer inflation. Australia has consumer and business confidence, plus building permits.
On Wednesday’s UK corporate calendar, Airtel Africa and LondonMetric hold annual general meetings, and Zigup releases full-year results.
Contributed by Alliance News
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