London pre-open: Stocks to edge up as Trump's tariff talk continues

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to edge up at the open on Wednesday as investors continued to keep a close eye on tariff developments.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 10 points higher.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The White House's war of words on international trade has intensified again as Donald Trump touted the prospect of 50% tariffs on copper and a border levy of 200% on pharmaceuticals, which have traditionally been sheltered from import charges.

"The President also said that semiconductor tariffs will be announced soon. But details of when how and who remain thin on the ground. Confusion has become the new normal with Asian stocks showing little in the way of firm direction overnight. And despite the heavy weighting of pharmaceutical and mining companies on the FTSE 100, the index is expected to hold onto most of yesterday's small gains at the open."

In corporate news, advertising agency WPP cut its first-half revenue forecasts due to a deteriorating trading performance in the second quarter which would also hit full-year profit estimates.

The company now expects H1 like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs to decline by 4.2% to 4.5%, with a fall of 5.5% to 6.0% in the second quarter - below expectations.

Seven housebuilders have agreed to collectively pay �100m to affordable housing programmes across the UK following an investigation by the competition regulator into pricing and buyer incentives.

Barratt Redrow, Bellway, Berkeley Group, Bloor Homes, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Vistry have offered a package of commitments to address the Competition and Markets Authority's concerns, which includes a payment to fund hundreds of new homes - helping low-income households, first-time buyers and vulnerable people.

Real estate investment trust LondonMetric said that it has sold a further six assets for �42.6m since its full-year results announcement in May.

LondonMetric also noted that the recent acquisitions of Highcroft Investment and Urban Logistics REIT had increased the value of its portfolio by �7.3bn.