London open: Stocks nudge up as investors mull UK jobs data

(Sharecast News) - London stocks nudged higher in early trade on Tuesday as investors continued to mull the US-China tariff pause and digested the latest UK jobs data.

At 0845 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 8,609.93.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Of course, the developments between the US and China mark a brief hiatus rather than a resolution. Even at the reduced levels, tariffs remain higher than before and it remains to be seen whether the damage which has already been wrought will have longer term and even permanent implications for the reputation of the US both domestically and indeed globally.

"In addition, there are also likely to have been more immediate consequences as consumers may have retrenched and as companies have been hamstrung in making investment decisions based on what has been an extremely murky outlook."

On home shores, figures released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed that wage growth slowed in January to March, while the unemployment rate ticked higher.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.5% - the highest level since June to August 2021.

Meanwhile, growth in average regular earnings excluding bonuses was 5.6%, down from 5.9%. Including bonuses, earnings growth was 5.5%, down from 5.7%.

Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: "Wage growth slowed slightly in the latest period but remains relatively strong, with public and private sectors now showing little difference.

"The broader picture continues to be of the labour market cooling, with the number of employees on payroll falling in the first quarter of the year. The number of job vacancies has also fallen again, with the rate of decline increasing in the last few months."

Elsewhere, data from the British Retail Consortium showed that a later Easter and the sunniest April on record helped UK retail sales surge last month, with growth picking up strongly after a weak showing in March.

Total retail sales rose at a year-on-year rate of 7% in April, following a 1.1% increase in March, according to the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor.

The Easter holidays, which typically result in increased spending by consumers, fell in March in 2024 but April in 2025. However, combining both months together, compared with the same two-month period the year before, sales were still up 4.3%.

In equity markets, Ladbrokes owner Entain shot to the top of the FTSE 100 after an upgrade to 'buy' at UBS, while RS Group surged to the top of the FTSE 250 after an upgrade to 'buy' at Bank of America.

Wickes racked up healthy gains as it hailed a strong start to the year, reporting a 6.9% jump in revenue for the 17 weeks to 26 April.

DCC tumbled after the sales, marketing and support services group's full-year revenues missed expectations.

Bytes Technology was also sharply lower even as it announced a special dividend and hiked its full-year payout to shareholders after a solid full-year performance, with profits rising by a double-digit percentage.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,609.93 0.06%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,719.37 0.45%

techMARK (TASX) 4,711.33 0.24%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Entain (ENT) 748.00p 3.80%

Kingfisher (KGF) 311.20p 2.84%

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,015.00p 1.55%

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 316.20p 1.44%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,727.50p 1.40%

WPP (WPP) 613.20p 1.29%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,855.50p 1.20%

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 89.78p 1.17%

AstraZeneca (AZN) 10,390.00p 1.15%

Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,408.00p 1.10%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

DCC (CDI) (DCC) 4,890.00p -3.55%

Airtel Africa (AAF) 165.50p -1.61%

Beazley (BEZ) 861.00p -1.32%

Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) 1,136.00p -1.22%

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 873.10p -1.00%

BP (BP.) 377.35p -0.85%

SEGRO (SGRO) 660.20p -0.78%

Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX) 596.50p -0.75%

Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,919.00p -0.71%

British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,066.00p -0.65%

FTSE 250 - Risers

RS Group (RS1) 598.00p 5.75%

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 81.50p 3.03%

Helios Towers (HTWS) 115.20p 2.86%

THG (THG) 27.24p 2.71%

Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 137.80p 2.61%

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 284.40p 2.45%

Burberry Group (BRBY) 815.40p 2.31%

Travis Perkins (TPK) 617.00p 2.07%

Vistry Group (VTY) 637.00p 1.95%

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 333.00p 1.90%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 518.50p -5.90%

Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,723.00p -1.32%

AO World (AO.) 95.10p -1.14%

Empiric Student Property (ESP) 89.00p -1.11%

Capital Gearing Trust (CGT) 4,785.00p -0.93%

Mobico Group (MCG) 29.12p -0.88%

HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited A Shs (HVPE) 2,460.00p -0.81%

Scottish American Inv Company (SAIN) 507.00p -0.78%

JPMorgan European Discovery Trust (JEDT) 523.00p -0.76%

Dr. Martens (DOCS) 57.30p -0.61%