FTSE 100 Up Marginally; BAE Systems, Tesco Among Prominent Gainers

(RTTNews) - The U.K. market is somewhat subdued a little past noon on Monday, having pared modest early gains as investors, awaiting fresh signals, remain a bit wary of making significant moves.

The undertone is a bit firm after a U.S. appeals court ruled that many of President Donald Trump's tariffs, which have upended global trade, were illegal.

The 7-4 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court's finding that Trump had exceeded his authority in tapping emergency economic powers to impose wide-ranging duties.

At the same time, the judges allowed the tariffs to stay in place through mid-October, giving Trump time to take the fight to the Supreme Court.

The benchmark FTSE 100, which advanced to 9,226.50 earlier in the day, was up 11.76 points or 0.13% at 9,199.10 a little while ago.

Babcock International is rising 3.75%, Endeavour Mining is climbing 3.3% and Rolls-Royce Holdings is advancing 2.7%.

BAE Systems os up 2.3% after Norway said it has chosen the United Kingdom as its strategic partner for the acquisition of new frigates.

Tesco is up 2.2%, Fresnillo is gaining 1.6%, while Pearson, Taylor Wimpey, Diploma, Convatec Group and Barclays are up 1 to 1.2%.

Genuit is rising 4.3% after acquiring Monodraught Topco Limited for £55.6 million.

3i Group is down nearly 2%. SSE, Airtel Africa and BT Group are down 1.5 to 1.6%, while National Grid, Rio Tinto and Standard Chartered are lower by 1.3 to 1.4%.

ICG, United Utilities, Anglo American Plc, Entain, Glencore, Schroders, Beazley, Scottish Mortgage, Aviva and Severn Trent are also weak.

In economic news, UK house prices logged a slower pace of growth in August due to stretched affordability, the Nationwide Building Society said Monday.

House prices increased 2.1% on a yearly basis in August, slower than the 2.4% rise seen in July.

On a monthly basis, house prices edged down 0.1%, in contrast to the 0.5% increase in the previous month. Prices were forecast to rise 0.1%.

"The relatively subdued pace of house price growth is perhaps understandable, given that affordability remains stretched relative to long-term norms," Nationwide's Chief Economist Robert Gardner said.

Gardner said, "House prices are still high compared to household incomes, making raising a deposit challenging for prospective buyers, especially given the intense cost of living pressures in recent years."

However, he observed that affordability should continue to improve gradually if income growth continues to outpace house price growth as anticipated.