London close: Stocks flatline with FTSE 100 close to record high

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 flatlined for the second straight session on Tuesday as tariff turmoil and AI concerns kept a lid on risk appetite, though markets were still holding close to record-high levels reached last week.

The UK benchmark index finished just 0.01% higher at 10,686.18, after a 0.02% slip on Monday from Friday's all-time closing high of 10,686.89.

US president Donald Trump's new global tariffs were scheduled to come into effect from Tuesday at the lower rate of 10% following backlash from the EU and the UK. According to Bloomberg, however, Trump is currently working on a formal order that will increase the rate to 15%.

Trump aside, worries about AI disruption continued to plague markets, with US stocks selling off on Monday, followed by only a mild rebound after Tuesday's opening bell on Wall Street.

"Once again, traders are concerned with the degree to which AI will disrupt rather than enhance corporate profitability and overall levels of employment, with online discourse developing around what the future may look like in just a few years," said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.

"For Europe, perhaps the saving grace is the lack of a significant tech or software weighting to their stock markets, although we are seeing the financials come under pressure."

Convatec surges on guidance upgrade; banks fall

Convatec surged 10% to the top of the index as the medical products maker upgraded its medium-term organic growth target following a strong year.

Speciality chemicals group Croda rose 8% as it posted a jump in annual sales and earnings despite the ongoing impact of US tariffs and wider geopolitical uncertainty.

Copper miner Antofagasta gained as copper prices surged over 2% on hopes that the new landscape for trade tariffs will mean lower import duties on Chinese goods, leading to a surge in demand.

On the downside, Rentokil took a hit after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to 'hold' from 'buy' and cut the price target to 465p from 505p.

Melrose Industries also fell after it said that Ross McCluskey will be appointed CFO and executive director of the board on 5 May, following the previously-announced departure of Matthew Gregory.

Asia and Africa-focused bank Standard Chartered lost ground even as it reported a 16% rise in annual earnings on the back of a strong performance at its wealth management division and unveiled a $1.5bn share buyback to start immediately.

Banks more generally were under pressure, with Lloyds, Barclays and NatWest down amid concerns about the credit market after the boss of JP Morgan warned over the risk of bad loans.

Meanwhile, on the FTSE 250, shares in The Unite Group fell sharply after the student accommodation specialist warned on earnings, while Oxford Biomedica also slumped after results. Raspberry Pi surged on more chatter around a faster rival artificial intelligent assistant to OpenClaw called PicoClaw which uses less processing power.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,686.18 0.01%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,686.44 0.59%

techMARK (TASX) 6,173.41 1.52%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Convatec Group (CTEC) 250.60p 10.40%

Croda International (CRDA) 3,212.00p 7.60%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 4,213.00p 3.23%

Halma (HLMA) 4,062.00p 2.27%

Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,653.00p 2.10%

Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,252.00p 2.10%

DCC (CDI) (DCC) 5,195.00p 1.86%

Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,390.00p 1.71%

Kingfisher (KGF) 364.90p 1.67%

Severn Trent (SVT) 3,202.00p 1.59%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Melrose Industries (MRO) 640.40p -4.39%

Rentokil Initial (RTO) 445.70p -2.96%

Rightmove (RMV) 415.50p -2.07%

British Land Company (BLND) 408.40p -2.06%

M&G (MNG) 311.70p -1.98%

3i Group (III) 3,288.00p -1.97%

Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 741.00p -1.92%

Land Securities Group (LAND) 652.50p -1.81%

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,198.00p -1.80%

Imperial Brands (IMB) 3,243.00p -1.73%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 444.40p 9.51%

Playtech (PTEC) 360.00p 4.96%

THG (THG) 36.32p 4.73%

Chemring Group (CHG) 531.00p 4.12%

Elementis (ELM) 172.20p 3.61%

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 195.05p 3.53%

Carnival (CCL) 2,300.00p 2.86%

Ashmore Group (ASHM) 245.60p 2.85%

Harworth Group (HWG) 173.50p 2.36%

SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT) 47.95p 2.02%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Unite Group (UTG) 495.40p -14.29%

Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 683.00p -11.76%

HGCapital Trust (HGT) 390.50p -9.19%

Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 420.50p -4.86%

Diversified Energy Company (DI) (DEC) 973.00p -3.47%

Hammerson (HMSO) 347.00p -3.18%

HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited A Shs (HVPE) 2,920.00p -2.99%

Hays (HAS) 43.62p -2.85%

NB Private Equity Partners Ltd. (NBPE) 1,398.00p -2.78%

Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 4,114.00p -2.56%