London open: Stocks off lows, geopolitics and trade in focus

(Sharecast News) - The financial newswire headlines are covered in various iterations of 'sell the US' but stocks in London and over on the Continent have moved off their lows. Tuesday's price action follows another bruising session for US dollar assets at the start of the week, in part linked to worrisome headlines around trade such as Washington's plans to hit Chinese ships with port fees or the US president's criticism of his central bank chief.

As of 0852 GMT, London's top-flight index was edging up 0.18% to 8,290.26, although the FTSE 250 was still 0.14% lower at 19,222.92.

Cable is flat, Brent futures are a tad higher and gold - is flying.

In overnight trading, COMEX gold futures topped the $3,500/oz. mark for the first time ever, as investors had apparently now caught on to the yellow metal's 'stealth bull(ion) market' of the past three years, when not even longer.

"Gold just punched through $3,500 like it owed it money - and this isn't some kneejerk move off Trump barking at Powell," said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.

"That's sideshow fluff. The real driver here is the slow-motion trainwreck of fiat credibility. We're staring down a synchronized global easing cycle with rate cuts queued up like Sunday night IMM orders."

No major economic releases were scheduled for Tuesday in the UK, but several Fed speakers were lined up for later in the day Stateside.

Significantly, it wasn't all bad headlines on the geopolitical front, although concern continued to be running sky-high.

Marc Galleoti wrote in the Sunday Times that he has expecting some sort of deal around Ukraine, possible by 30 April when Trump's first 100 days in office would be up.

Steven Rosenberg over at the BBC also appeared not to dismiss a deal, although he suspected that something might be afoot.

US and Iranian negotiators were due to meet again during the week and there was some market chatter to be heard regarding the possibility of an easing in US-China trade tensions in about one month's time.

DCC divesting unit, Sainsbury buying back shares

DCC said it has agreed to sell its healthcare division to HealthCo Investment, an independently managed unit of funds managed or advised by Investindustrial Advisors for a total enterprise value of £1.05bn. The company on Monday said it expected total expected net cash proceeds of £945m, including an unconditional deferred amount of £130m receivable within two years, and would return surplus to shareholders "while maintaining a strong, investment-grade balance sheet".

J Sainsbury announced the launch of a share buyback programme of up to £200m on Tuesday, as flagged in its results announcement last week, aiming to complete it by 12 September. The FTSE 100 retailer said it intended to cancel all repurchased shares to reduce its share capital. It said BNP Paribas would conduct the buyback independently under non-discretionary instructions, in line with shareholder authority granted at the annual general meeting in July last year.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,295.35 0.24% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,242.24 -0.04% techMARK (TASX) 4,357.45 -0.52%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,053.00p 3.13% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 263.40p 2.57% Tesco (TSCO) 363.70p 2.57% easyJet (EZJ) 478.00p 2.03% Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 453.20p 2.00% Vodafone Group (VOD) 71.86p 1.96% Aviva (AV.) 535.00p 1.60% Persimmon (PSN) 1,231.50p 1.53% Unilever (ULVR) 4,879.00p 1.52% Babcock International Group (BAB) 751.50p 1.49%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 16,355.00p -5.22% CRH (CDI) (CRH) 6,210.00p -3.45% DCC (CDI) (DCC) 4,840.00p -2.81% Diploma (DPLM) 3,748.00p -2.55% Entain (ENT) 556.40p -2.35% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,334.00p -2.34% Rentokil Initial (RTO) 342.10p -2.26% Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,029.00p -2.10% Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) 1,725.00p -2.04% Alliance Witan (ALW) 1,094.00p -1.80%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 328.60p 5.80% Vistry Group (VTY) 610.20p 3.04% Energean (ENOG) 866.50p 2.79% Pennon Group (PNN) 502.50p 2.51% Kier Group (KIE) 134.20p 2.13% Bellway (BWY) 2,540.00p 2.09% The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited (TRIG) 79.40p 2.06% Endeavour Mining (EDV) 2,198.00p 2.04% ITV (ITV) 77.00p 1.99% Ruffer Investment Company Ltd Red PTG Pref Shares (RICA) 282.00p 1.81%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

WH Smith (SMWH) 892.00p -4.19% Carnival (CCL) 1,175.50p -4.16% Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 855.00p -4.04% Auction Technology Group (ATG) 577.00p -3.99% Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 145.00p -3.85% Indivior (INDV) 665.00p -3.41% Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 314.00p -3.38% Discoverie Group (DSCV) 542.00p -3.21% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 136.00p -3.13% JTC (JTC) 817.00p -3.08%