(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Thursday, taking their cue from a solid session on Wall Street, as investors shrugged off tariff uncertainty.
At 0840 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.8% at 8,937.69.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Investors have voted with their wallets, brushing aside tariff uncertainty to send risk-on assets higher. If all-time highs for Nvidia and Bitcoin are anything to go by, markets seem to be pricing in very little chance of any meaningful disruption to the bull party, at least in the near term. US markets closed higher yesterday, and European stocks have joined in this morning, with the FTSE 100 trading up at the open.
"US investors looked the other way as President Trump issued another wave of tariff letters. But uncertainty is still in the air, as investors gear up for an important earnings season in the coming weeks.
"So far, tariffs haven't made a noticeable dent in inflation, but the real test is whether they'll start to weigh on corporate earnings. Growth expectations have been falling all year, which could set the stage for upside surprises - if companies have managed to absorb tariff costs through productivity and efficiency gains. Still, futures point to a weaker open today, as this unloved bull market continues to wrestle with elevated volatility."
In equity markets, heavily-weighted miners were the best performers on the FTSE 100 following losses the previous day, with Anglo American, Rio Tinto, Glencore and Antofagasta all up.
Advertising agency WPP gained as it appointed Microsoft executive Cindy Rose as chief executive to succeed Mark Read who will step down on 1 September. The shares fell sharply on Wednesday after the company slashed annual profit forecasts.
Jupiter Fund Management surged as it agreed to buy CCLA - the UK's largest asset manager focused on serving non-profit organisations - for 100m. CCLA manages more than 15bn in assets under management on behalf of charities, religious institutions and local authorities.
Iconic bootmaker Dr Martens advanced as it held annual guidance and said it continued to see positive trading in its Americas direct to consumer operations, driven by full price sales, although its UK business continued to experience a challenging trading backdrop.
Rank Group rallied as it said full-year underlying operating profit was ahead of expectations.
Vistry was also in the black as the housebuilder said it remains on track to deliver a year-on-year increase in profits in FY25, supported by a forward order book of 4.3bn and a "strong" pipeline of development opportunities.
Recruiter Pagegroup rose despite reporting a steeper rate of profit decline in the second quarter, with particular weakness in the EMEA and UK divisions. For the full year, the board said it still expects to hit market forecasts for operating profit, though subdued levels of client and candidate confidence are continuing to impact decision making.
On the downside, water and sewage firm Severn Trent lost ground even as it reiterated its full-year outlook, underpinned by ongoing work to find and fix leaks.
Building materials distributor Grafton slumped as it said first-half trading was in line with its expectations but that many of its markets remain challenging and it is not expecting a significant increase in volumes this year.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,937.69 0.80%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,621.25 0.25%
techMARK (TASX) 5,149.52 0.62%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Anglo American (AAL) 2,269.00p 4.56%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,440.50p 3.83%
Glencore (GLEN) 309.10p 3.66%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,912.00p 2.58%
WPP (WPP) 439.50p 2.54%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,287.50p 2.34%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,481.00p 2.21%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 342.60p 2.21%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,827.00p 1.84%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,061.00p 1.83%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Land Securities Group (LAND) 587.00p -1.43%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,076.00p -1.10%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 3,886.00p -0.97%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,642.00p -0.71%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 359.80p -0.69%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 978.60p -0.59%
SSE (SSE) 1,876.50p -0.50%
DCC (CDI) (DCC) 4,746.00p -0.42%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 8,730.00p -0.39%
National Grid (NG.) 1,029.50p -0.39%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 118.60p 9.41%
Rank Group (RNK) 142.40p 3.49%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 378.60p 3.44%
AJ Bell (AJB) 528.50p 3.32%
Hill and Smith (HILS) 1,870.00p 2.97%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 82.15p 2.88%
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 149.30p 2.82%
Vistry Group (VTY) 642.80p 2.68%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 242.10p 2.67%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 2,238.00p 2.38%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Grafton Group Ut (CDI) (GFTU) 930.00p -6.53%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 338.00p -4.90%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 235.50p -3.48%
Target Healthcare Reit Ltd (THRL) 99.00p -2.17%
Great Portland Estates (GPE) 340.00p -1.45%
British Land Company (BLND) 355.00p -1.28%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 585.50p -1.18%
Derwent London (DLN) 1,954.00p -1.16%
Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 679.50p -1.02%
Genuit Group (GEN) 391.00p -1.01%
108.64 (1.23%)
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