FTSE 100 Notably Higher On Easing Tariff Concerns

(RTTNews) - The U.K. stock market remains firmly place in positive territory on Monday after a bright start as U.S. President Donald Trump has toned down his rhetoric on Jerome Powell, and also admitted that the 145% tariffs on China are "very high."

Trump said he would like to see Powell to be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates, and that he has no intention to fire him.

On the tariff front, the U.S. President said tariffs on China will come down substantially.

The benchmark FTSE 100, which climbed to 8,468.11 earlier, was down 104.03 points or 1.25% at 8,432.63 about half an hour past noon.

Croda International is surging nearly 10%. Standard Chartered, Antofagasta, Anglo American Plc., Glencore, HSBC Holdings, Barclays, BP, Pershing Square Holdings, Polar Capital Technology, Spirax Group, Ashtead Group and IAG are up 4 to 7%.

Melrose Industries, IMI, Scottish Mortgage, Informa, Natwest Group, Rio Tinto, Shell, ICG, EasyJet, WPP, Diploma, Howden Joinery, Alliance Wittan, The Sage Group, Babcock International and Intercontinental Hotels Group are gaining 2.5 to 4%.

Reckitt Benckiser is declining nearly 7%, hurt by the company missing first-quarter sales estimates.

Fresnillo is down 5.7% after reporting about a 9% decline in silver production in Q1.

Endeavour Mining, Severn Trent, Sainsbury (J), BAE Systems, National Grid, Marks & Spencer, Haleon, Next and British American Tobacco are down 1 to 3%.

The UK private sector activity deteriorated for the first time in one-and-a-haf years in April amid weaker foreign demand linked to tariff uncertainty, flash survey data from S&P Global revealed.

The flash composite output index dropped to a 29-month low of 48.2 in April from 51.5 in March. The expected score was 50.4.

The services Purchasing Managers' Index also fell to a 27-month low of 48.9 compared to 52.5 in March. The score was well below the forecast of 51.5. At 44.0, the manufacturing PMI remained at a 20-month low as expected and down from 45.3 in March.

Looking ahead, the overall business activity expectations faded to the lowest for two-and-a-half years due to heightened recession risks at home and abroad. Apart from that, many firms reported a negative impact on growth projections from US trade tensions, rising geopolitical uncertainty, and general worries about the broader UK business climate.