London open: FTSE gains on positive US, Asian cues; Sage Group rises after update

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Tuesday, taking their cue from positive sessions in the US and Asia, as investors eyed the latest policy announcement from the Federal Reserve and a raft of earnings from US tech giants later in the week. At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 10,176.64.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Four of the 'Magnificent Seven' will be reporting over the coming days in the form of Tesla, Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Apple, with most of those stocks seeing some buying interest ahead of the numbers.

"So far, an estimated 75% of companies have exceeded earnings expectations, although the possibility of failure set against high expectations is elevated, as evidenced by the reaction to the recent Netflix and Intel updates."

Investors were also mulling the latest tariff threats from Donald Trump, who said on Truth Social that he would lift tariffs on South Korean imports to 25% as he accused the country of not "not living up" to a trade deal agreed last year.

"South Korea's Legislature is not living up to its Deal with the United States. President Lee and I reached a Great Deal for both Countries on July 30, 2025, and we reaffirmed these terms while I was in Korea on October 29, 2025. Why hasn't the Korean Legislature approved it?," the US president wrote in a post.

"Because the Korean Legislature hasn't enacted our Historic Trade Agreement, which is their prerogative, I am hereby increasing South Korean TARIFFS on Autos, Lumber, Pharma, and all other Reciprocal TARIFFS, from 15% to 25%."

On home shores, the latest BRC-NIQ shop price monitor showed that shop price inflation spiked in January, confounding expectations for no change.

Shop price inflation was 1.5%, up from 0.7% in December. Consensus had been for inflation to remain at 0.7%.

Prices rose across the board. Non-food inflation edged up 0.3%, in comparison to the previous month's 0.6% decline, while food inflation rose to 3.9% from 3.3%. Within that, fresh food inflation rose to 4.4% from 3.8%, while ambient food prices increased by 3.1%, compared to a 2.5% uplift in December.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, blamed the uplift on higher costs, including energy prices and National Insurance contributions, filtering down to prices.

She continued: "Meat, fish and fruit were particularly affected, also reflecting weak supply and stronger demand.

"It's a challenging time for households. Retailers do what they can to keep prices down in a competitive market, but thin margins and rising costs of government policy make it harder.

"Government must double down on costs in order to support households."

Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NIQ, said: "Shoppers are also cautious of spending in January and this will not be helped by continuation of inflation.

"However, there are still savings to be made at the checkout, as some non-food retailers are still on promotion and many food retailers continue to reduce prices on everyday items as a way to drive footfall."

In equity markets, The Sage Group rallied as it reiterated full-year guidance on the back of a strong first quarter.

Organic revenues at the accountancy software specialist jumped 10% in the three months to December end, to £674m, with growth across all its regions. As a result, the blue chip said it remained on track to meet full-year targets, including annual organic total revenue growth of 9% or above.

Luxury fashion brand Burberry was boosted by an upgrade to 'overweight' from 'equalweight' at Barclays, which lifted its price target on the stock to 1,450p from 1,340p as it said the turnaround strategy was paying off.

Food producer Cranswick rose after it lifted its full-year profit outlook, hailing strong revenue growth in the third quarter.

Eurowag was also in the black as it said full-year adjusted cash EBITDA was set to be above guidance.

Paragon Banking nudged higher as it reiterated its full-year guidance following a "strong" first-quarter operating performance, which saw total lending increase 6.8% to £724m.

On the downside, iconic bootmaker Dr Martens slumped as it said it expects full-year revenue to be broadly flat as third-quarter sales fell 3.1% year-on-year, with growth in the Americas offset by a challenging market in Europe.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 10,176.64 0.27% FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,392.71 0.18% techMARK (TASX) 5,946.14 0.33%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Spirax Group (SPX) 7,375.00p 2.22% The Sage Group (SGE) 1,065.00p 2.11% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 1,264.80p 1.82% St James's Place (STJ) 1,480.50p 1.44% Prudential (PRU) 1,180.50p 1.24% Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,188.00p 1.24% Weir Group (WEIR) 3,262.00p 1.05% Halma (HLMA) 3,678.00p 1.04% Barclays (BARC) 485.70p 1.03% BAE Systems (BA.) 1,993.00p 1.01%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Antofagasta (ANTO) 3,686.00p -2.36% Fresnillo (FRES) 4,378.00p -1.57% M&G (MNG) 301.80p -1.53% easyJet (EZJ) 470.40p -1.20% Entain (ENT) 660.00p -1.17% Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,174.00p -1.15% United Utilities Group (UU.) 1,204.00p -0.86% Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,623.00p -0.79% Glencore (GLEN) 496.30p -0.76% Smiths Group (SMIN) 2,618.00p -0.76%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Volution Group (FAN) 669.00p 3.40% Playtech (PTEC) 281.00p 2.93% Cranswick (CWK) 5,300.00p 2.91% Quilter (QLT) 199.70p 2.31% Empiric Student Property (ESP) 80.50p 2.29% Inchcape (INCH) 818.50p 2.12% Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 280.40p 1.67% W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 126.00p 1.61% Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 622.00p 1.47% Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 335.80p 1.39%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Dr. Martens (DOCS) 71.00p -6.15% Hays (HAS) 44.86p -2.65% Energean (ENOG) 883.50p -2.43% AEP Plantations (AEP) 1,470.00p -2.33% Rathbones Group (RAT) 2,160.00p -2.04% FirstGroup (FGP) 183.40p -1.71% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,280.00p -1.54% Applied Nutrition (APN) 239.50p -1.44% Pan African Resources (PAF) 143.00p -1.38% BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 1,010.00p -1.17%