(Alliance News) – Stock prices in London opened higher on Tuesday, ahead of various US data due in the afternoon.
Also, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer congratulated Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney on his election win.
“The UK and Canada are the closest of allies, partners and friends,” Starmer said in a statement. “Our partnership is based on shared history and values, with a shared sovereign, and I look forward to strengthening our ties.”
The FTSE 100 index opened up 5.05 points, 0.1%, at 8,422.39. The FTSE 250 was up 41.41 points, 0.2%, at 19,774.72, and the AIM All-Share was up 3.05 points, 0.5%, at 678.80.
The Cboe UK 100 was up marginally at 839.04, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 17,305.19, and the Cboe Small Companies was flat at 15,262.11.
Howden Joinery led the FTSE 100, up 6.2%.
The trade kitchen and joinery supplier said it was on track for its 2025 outlook after a positive start to the year, with underlying revenue up 3.0% on-year for the 16 weeks to April 19.
UK underlying revenue rose 2.6% annually, and International underlying revenue increased 17%.
Associated British Foods led the laggers, down 9.2%.
The Primark owner said revenue decreased 2% on-year to GBP9.51 billion for the 24 weeks ended March 1, while pretax profit fell 21% to GBP692 million. The interim dividend was unchanged at 20.7 pence.
The firm noted that its Sugar business posted a GBP16 million adjusted operating loss, and expects it to report a loss of up to GBP40 million for the full year.
BP was down 3.7%.
The oil and gas firm said pretax profit for the first quarter fell to USD3.13 billion from USD4.63 billion the prior year. Total revenue fell 4.2% to USD47.88 billion from USD49.96 billion.
BP also declared a dividend of 8 US cents per share and announced a USD750 million buyback programme, after its USD1.75 billion share buyback completed on Friday.
Travis Perkins led the FTSE 250, up 2.9%.
However, the Northampton, England-based builders’ merchant reported a 2.4% total revenue decline for its first quarter.
THG was in the red, down 1.6%.
The Manchester-based e-commerce retailer reported a widened pretax loss of GBP202.4 million for 2024, while revenue decreased to GBP1.75 billion from GBP1.88 billion.
Xtract Resources led AIM, up 31%.
It said testing from the first three diamond drillholes at the Silverking project in Zambia included 42.91 grams of silver per tonne and 4.15% copper.
“High copper grades are backed up by significant silver assays peaking at grades in excess of 200g/t Ag which at current silver prices, represent a by-product value potentially sufficient to cover the majority of future mining costs,” commented Executive Chair Colin Bird.
Prospex Energy lost 13%.
The European gas and power-focused investor said production has been paused at the Viura field’s new Viura-1B well due to a leak in the completion tubing. It now expects drilling of the development wells to take place next year.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was flat, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.4%.
The pound was quoted higher at USD1.3414 early on Tuesday in London, compared to USD1.3389 at the equities close on Monday. The euro stood at USD1.1398, higher against USD1.1384. Against the yen, the dollar was trading lower at JPY142.42 compared to JPY142.73.
In Asia on Tuesday, Japanese markets were closed for Showa Day. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.1%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.9%.
In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended mostly higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.3%, the S&P 500 up 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.1%.
Brent oil was quoted lower at USD64.09 a barrel early in London on Tuesday from USD65.52 late Monday.
Gold was quoted lower at USD3,320.36 an ounce against USD3,326.61.
Still to come on Tuesday’s economic calendar, the US and EU release consumer confidence data. Also, Ireland has GDP and retail sales data.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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