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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were higher heading into Monday afternoon, shaking off some US tariff nerves, with BP and gold miners among the stocks shining.
A report that an activist investor has picked up a stake in BP lifted the oil major. Gold hit a record high, boosting precious metal miners. News of another batch of US tariffs, this time in the aluminium and steel sectors, meant European stocks got off to a slow start to the week. Gains got more convincing over the course of the morning, however.
The FTSE 100 index traded up 49.97 points, 0.6%, at 8,750.50. The FTSE 250 was 131.92 points higher, 0.6%, at 20,939.76, and the AIM All-Share added 4.20 points, 0.6%, at 723.24.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.6% at 876.75, the Cboe UK 250 added 0.7% at 18,277.83, and the Cboe Small Companies rose 0.3% at 15,873.41.
The CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt each rose 0.2%.
The pound was largely flat to USD1.2401 early Monday afternoon from USD1.2400 at the time of the London equities close on Friday. The euro slipped to USD1.0324 from USD1.0333. Against the yen, the dollar rose to JPY152.16 from JPY151.24.
Tradyom analyst Rami Alame commented: "The US dollar started the week on a positive note, as traders reacted to renewed trade tensions with a more cautious stance.
"Elsewhere, ongoing concerns about slowing economic growth in the eurozone and uncertainty surrounding the upcoming German elections should continue to weigh on the euro, favouring the dollar."
The US will move to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports this week, President Donald Trump said Sunday, the latest in a slew of trade levies he has announced.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the tariffs, which he will announce on Monday, will apply to "any steel coming into the US," adding this will also affect aluminium.
Trump imposed similar tariffs during his 2017-2021 presidency to protect US industries, which he believed faced unfair competition from Asian and European countries.
Tariff nerves have supported gold prices in recent weeks, as investors flock to the safe haven. Bullion hit another record high on Monday.
Gold bought USD2,903.77 an ounce midday Monday, rising from USD2,859.53 at the time of the London equities close on Friday. It had hit a record high just above USD2,906 earlier on Monday. A barrel of Brent rose to USD75.46 from USD74.59.
XTB analyst Kathleen Brooks commented: "The question for investors is whether gold will reach the psychologically significant USD3,000 level on the back of ever-growing tariff levies."
Endeavour Mining and Fresnillo each rose 2.4%, tracking gold higher.
BP advanced 7.0%. Giving the stock some impetus at the start of the week, Bloomberg reported Elliott Investment Management has built a significant stake in the London-based oil major, and has called on it to consider transformative measures.
The oil major releases annual results on Tuesday.
"Tick tock, the window for Murray Auchincloss to convince the market he has a plan to revive BP's fortunes just got shorter with reports that activist investor Elliott has joined the shareholder base. BP has not just fallen behind the leading pack of US energy names but also the chasing pack which includes its closest peer Shell and other European names, both in terms of share price performance and valuation," AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould commented.
"In this context it should come as little surprise BP has been targeted by Elliott. While Auchincloss and his predecessor Bernard Looney had already dialled back the ambitious 'greener' strategy announced in 2020, there's a good chance Elliott might push for the company to stop allocating capital to existing renewables and clean energy projects and potentially exit them entirely."
Filtronic shares jumped 13%. It has landed a "significant new contract win" with SpaceX, worth GBP16.8 million.
The designer and manufacturer of products for the aerospace, defence, telecoms infrastructure, and low earth orbit space market said the deal will be fulfilled in the current financial year, which runs to May, and in the next.
"Consequently, the board is now confident the business will exceed current market expectations for revenue and profit in both FY2025 and FY2026," the firm added.
CEO Nat Edington said: "We are delighted to have secured this substantial order, which underscores Filtronic's reputation for delivering high-performance RF solutions to our market leading customer. This contract, alongside our growing momentum in strategic markets, provides us with increased confidence in our ability to exceed our growth targets for FY2025 and FY2026."
US stocks are called to open higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is called up 0.4%, the S&P 500 up 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.7% higher.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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