FTSE 100 Moderately Higher As Stocks Recover From Recent Losses

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks are up in positive territory Tuesday morning, mirroring gains in other markets in the region, as investors indulge in some brisk buying after recent string of losses.

The focus is currently on regional economic data. Investors are also awaiting U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of reciprocal tariffs.

"The President will be announcing a tariff plan that will roll back the unfair trade practices that have been ripping off our country for decades. He's doing this in the best interest of the American worker," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

The benchmark FTSE 100, which climbed to 8,672.03 earlier in the session, is up 49.60 points or 0.58% at 8,632.41 nearly half an hour before noon.

Rentokil Initial, Kingfisher, Games Workshop, Barclays, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Halma, Intermediate Capital Group, Rightmove, Melrose Industries, Mondi, Easyjet, Glencore and GSK are gaining 2 to 3%.

AstraZeneca is up sharply after the company said that a mid-state trial showed its experimental cholesterol drug reduced "bad" cholesterol.

Greencore Group shares are up 6%. The producer of convenience foods has upgraded its full-year profit forecast after strong revenue and volume momentum continued into the second quarter.

Building materials supplier Travis Perkins is down as much as 6% despite recovering some lost ground. The stock plunged after the company swung to a pre-tax loss and cut dividend.

On the economic front, data from the Nationwide Building Society showed house prices in the U.K. showed nil growth in March compared to February. This followed an increase of 0.4% in the previous month. On a yearly basis, house price growth remained unchanged at 3.9% in March.

Data from S&P Global said the UK Manufacturing PMI for March 2025 was revised up to 44.9 from an initial estimate of 44.6. Despite the upward revision, it remained the lowest reading in 17 months, down from 46.9 in February.