FTSE 100 Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks are down in negative territory a little past noon on Friday amid trade tensions ahead of the U.S. government's tariff deadline.

With the July 9 deadline to strike deals with the U.S. just a few days away, U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that his government will send letters to trading partners outlining unilateral tariffs that will take effect on August 1.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 27.72 points or 0.3% at 8,795.36 about a quarter past noon.

Mondia, Intermediate Capital Group, Anglo American Plc., Barratt Redrow, Schroders, Croda International, Berkeley Group Holdings, Babcock International, Antofagasta, EasyJet, WPP, Ashtead Group, Persimmon, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Glencore are down sharply.

Vodafone Group is gaining about 3.2%. Fresnillo is up 1.6% and Coca-Cola HBC is advancing nearly 1%. Associated British Foods, BT Group, Antofagasta and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners are up with modest gains.

Huddled Group Plc shares are soaring more than 10% after the Nottingham, England-based investor in e-commerce brands announced that it has signed a new fulfilment and carrier service agreement with THG Ingenuity.

Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders showed UK car sales expanded for the second straight month and marked the best June since 2019 with strong growth in battery electric car demand.

New car market grew 6.7% from a year ago to 191,316 units in June. This was the best June since 2019, helping lift first half performance 3.5% above the same period last year, the lobby said.

New petrol registrations fell 4.2% and diesel volumes gained only 0.2%, suggesting that combined share of the market was 51.6%. Total electrified vehicle registrations achieved a 48.5% market share.