London midday: FTSE extends gains despite tariff uncertainty

(Sharecast News) - London stocks had extended gains by midday on Friday despite tariff uncertainty.

The FTSE 100 was 0.7% higher at 8,785.25.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "The story on tariffs has more twists than an M. Night Shyamalan film, with a federal court providing the latest plot point overnight.

"The relatively muted response to the US Court of International Trade ruling apparently wiping out tariffs on Wednesday betrayed an understandable scepticism about that being the end to the story and sure enough a federal appeals court has decided the tariffs can stay while the Trump administration's appeal is heard.

"As well as being difficult for investors to navigate, the uncertainty makes it very tricky for businesses to make decisions and specifically to allocate investment. Clearly, a lot of companies and the financial markets would prefer a situation with zero tariffs but at this point just knowing where we will land in the long term would almost be welcomed more.

"A rally on Wall Street ran out of steam overnight and futures markets are pointing to declines later for the main indices. The FTSE 100 managed gains on Friday morning despite the miners trading lower amid the continuing economic turmoil."

Corporate news was thin on the ground, but M&G surged to the top of the FTSE 100 after it was announced that Japan's Dai-ichi Life will take a stake in the investment manager after the two firms agreed a long-term strategic partnership.

Under the terms of the deal, the blue chip will become Dai-chi's preferred asset management partner in Europe, while the mutual insurer will acquire a shareholding of around 15% in M&G.

The partnership is expected to generate at least $6bn in new business flows into funds managed by M&G over the next five years, the British firm said.

Elsewhere, Hiscox rallied after an upgrade to 'outperform' by BNP Paribas Exane. It and Beazley were also boosted by reinstatements of coverage at 'buy' by Berenberg.

Weir Group was also in the black, after an upgrade to 'buy' at Kepler Cheuvreux.

Alpha Group gained after saying it has extended possible takeover discussions with Corpay just weeks after the fintech rebuffed an initial offer from the US business payments giant.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,785.25 0.79%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,117.35 0.57%

techMARK (TASX) 4,855.85 0.63%

FTSE 100 - Risers

M&G (MNG) 236.90p 5.57%

Unite Group (UTG) 857.00p 2.08%

BT Group (BT.A) 177.35p 1.95%

Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,276.00p 1.84%

Weir Group (WEIR) 2,452.00p 1.83%

SSE (SSE) 1,774.00p 1.78%

Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,032.00p 1.74%

Severn Trent (SVT) 2,705.00p 1.69%

Beazley (BEZ) 946.50p 1.66%

Schroders (SDR) 356.00p 1.66%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 329.20p -1.08%

CRH (CDI) (CRH) 6,758.00p -0.85%

Compass Group (CPG) 2,632.00p -0.68%

Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 987.80p -0.66%

Entain (ENT) 750.40p -0.50%

Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 795.00p -0.45%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,444.50p -0.37%

Bunzl (BNZL) 2,374.00p -0.34%

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 8,566.00p -0.33%

Anglo American (AAL) 2,199.00p -0.27%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Alpha Group International (ALPH) 3,175.00p 3.93%

W.A.G Payment Solutions (WPS) 67.00p 3.40%

Rank Group (RNK) 127.00p 3.08%

Computacenter (CCC) 2,662.00p 2.62%

Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 6,770.00p 2.58%

Drax Group (DRX) 657.50p 2.41%

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,033.50p 2.12%

Man Group (EMG) 176.10p 1.97%

Ninety One (N91) 161.80p 1.89%

Investec (INVP) 539.50p 1.79%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Workspace Group (WKP) 411.00p -2.14%

British Land Company (BLND) 388.20p -1.82%

Harworth Group (HWG) 172.50p -1.71%

Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 545.50p -1.18%

SSP Group (SSPG) 165.40p -1.08%

Clarkson (CKN) 3,320.00p -1.04%

Endeavour Mining (EDV) 2,260.00p -0.79%

Ocado Group (OCDO) 259.30p -0.77%

Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 394.00p -0.76%

Marshalls (MSLH) 282.00p -0.70%