FTSE 100 Modestly Higher, Extends Gains To 12th Straight Session

(RTTNews) - The UK market is up in positive territory in early afternoon trades on Tuesday, extending gains to a 12th straight session. Easing concerns about U.S. tariffs contribute to the positive sentiment in the market. Investors are also digesting a slew of quarterly earnings announcements.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 25.25 points or 0.3% at 8,442.59 a little while ago.

Howden Joinery Group is rising more than 6%. Antofagasta, Anglo American Plc., Entain, Bunzl, Tesco, Kingfisher and Rio Tinto are gaining 2 to 2.5%.

HSBC Holdings is up 2% as it launched a $3 billion share buyback despite an increasingly fragile geopolitical backdrop.

The lending major reported Tuesday lower profit and revenues in its first quarter. In its first quarter, profit before tax decreased to $9.48 billion from last year's $12.65 billion, primarily due to the non-recurrence of $3.7 billion in net impacts last year relating to the disposals of banking business in Canada and business in Argentina.

Profit after tax was $7.57 billion, lower than prior year's $10.84 billion.

JD Sports Fashion, BAE Systems, Barratt Redrow, Sainsbury (J), Standard Chartered, Natwest Group, Persimmon, EasyJet, Fresnillo, Marks & Spencer and Land Securities are up 1.3 to 2%.

Severn Trent, Reckitt Benckiser, Unite Group, Rentokil Initial, Auto Trader Group, Glencore and Imperial Brands are also notably higher.

Associated British Foods is declining more than 6%, after reporting that its profit before taxation for the 24 weeks ended 1 March 2025 declined to 692 million pounds from 881 million pounds last year.

Profit attributable to equity shareholders for the period was 520 million pounds or 71.0 pence per share down from 663 million pounds or 87.4 pence per share in the previous year.

BP is down by about 3.7%. BP reported profit before tax of $3.13 billion for the first quarter, lower than $4.633 billion in the same quarter a year ago, primarily due to decrease in revenues. Net profit declined to $687 million or 4.27 cents per share from $2.263 billion or 13.25 cents per share last year.

AstraZeneca is down nearly 3% after the company reported lower than expected earnings. Looking ahead, for fiscal 2025, AstraZeneca continues to expect total revenue to increase by a high single-digit percentage and core earnings per share to grow in a low double-digit percentage.

In its first quarter, profit before tax climbed 21% to $3.40 billion from last year's $2.80 billion. Profit after tax grew 34 percent to $2.92 billion from $2.18 billion in the prior year. Earnings per share were $1.88, up from $1.41 a year ago.

Beazley, Hiscox, Shell, IAG, Spirax Group, Smith & Nephew and Melrose Industries are also notably lower.