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| Yesterday’s UK 100 Leaders | Price (p) | % Chg |
| Croda International PLC | 2,947.0 | 8.2% |
| Antofagasta PLC | 1,675.5 | 7.0% |
| Standard Chartered PLC | 1,087.5 | 6.4% |
| HSBC Holdings PLC | 845.2 | 5.6% |
| Babcock International Group PLC | 789.0 | 5.4% |
| Yesterday’s UK 100 Laggards | Price (p) | % Chg |
| Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC | 4,668.0 | -5.7% |
| Endeavour Mining PLC | 2,038.0 | -5.7% |
| Fresnillo PLC | 985.0 | -5.2% |
| Severn Trent PLC | 2,682.0 | -2.9% |
| Vodafone Group PLC | 70.2 | -2.7% |
| Major World Indices | Price | % Chg | 1 Year |
| UK 100 INDEX | 8,403 | 0.9% | 4.5% |
| DOW JONES INDUS. AVG | 39,607 | 1.1% | 3.0% |
| DAX INDEX | 21,962 | 3.1% | 21.4% |
| NIKKEI 225 | 35,051 | 0.5% | -8.9% |
| S&P/ASX 200 INDEX | 7,969 | 0.6% | 3.7% |
| Commodities | Units | Price | % Chg |
| WTI Crude Oil (Nymex) | USD/bbl. | 62.29 | 0.03% |
| Brent Crude (ICE) | USD/bbl. | 66.11 | -0.02% |
| Gold Spot | USD/t oz. | 3,325 | 1.1% |
| Copper (Comex) | USd/lb. | 489 | -0.1% |
Click graph to enlarge
The UK 100 called to open -3 points this morning at 8,400. The UK 100 looks set to open slightly lower this morning having added 0.9% yesterday.
In Asia this morning, Hong Kong’s benchmark index, Hang Seng, declined 1.3% or 288 points to 21,786. It has fallen the most among Asia-Pacific peers. The index has fallen almost 9% in the last month. In Japan the Nikkei gained 0.56% to 35,058, building on the previous day’s rally. The Japanese yen strengthened past 143 per dollar on Thursday, snapping a two-day losing streak as investors turned to safe-haven assets. China’s Shanghai composite index was down 0.10% to 3,292.
Stocks rose Stateside on Wednesday on hopes that U.S.-China trade tensions could soon ease, while President Donald Trump signled he does not plan to remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell from his post as central bank leader. The Dow Jones popped 419.59 points, or 1.07%, to close at 39,606.57. The S&P climbed 1.67% to end at 5,375.86, and the Nasdaq rallied 2.50% and settled at 16,708.05. All three indexes posted back-to-back gains. However, the major averages ended the session well off their highs. At one point Wednesday morning, the blue-chip Dow added more than 1,100 points, and the S&P 500 was up 3.44%. Trump said Tuesday he is willing to take a less confrontational approach to trade talks with China, noting that the current 145% tariff on Chinese imports is “very high, and it won’t be that high. … No, it won’t be anywhere near that high. It’ll come down substantially. But it won’t be zero.”
AJ Bell reported strong growth in customer numbers. Record Assets Under Management of £90.4bln.
Anglo American reported a strong start to 2025, with significant performances in copper and iron ore, despite challenges in other areas such as manganese and platinum group metals. The company is undergoing a major portfolio transition, exiting its PGMs, steelmaking coal, and nickel businesses, and focusing on its core operations to position itself for sustainable growth and higher returns. The demerger of Anglo American Platinum and sales of other assets are on track, while new agreements and growth projects are being pursued to enhance future production capabilities.
Relx continues to see positive momentum across all four business areas. Full Year outlook remains unchanged.
St James’s Place lost £3.3bn from weakening markets in the first quarter of 2025, despite investors continuing to pile cash into the wealth manager. The UK’s largest wealth manager reported that its assets under management fell during the quarter for the first time in years, as turmoil in the stock market impacted investments, according to a trading update. Analysts had been expecting funds under management at St James’s Place to continue rising from £190.2 to £197bn, underestimating the impact that market performance would have on the firm. However, all areas of the business lost money on the market, with its investment arm losing £530m, its pension arm losing £2bn, and its discretionary fund management business losing £820m. St James’s Place has 38% of its assets in North American stocks, which fell sharply in the first three months of 2025 due to fears over trade wars and threats to the strong position held by the Magnificent Seven in the market. This led the firm’s funds under management to decline to £188.6bn by the end of March, below the level it had started the year. All parts of the firm generated new cash throughout the quarter, but the firm’s £101bn pension arm was the clear favourite among investors, as they deposited £1.3bn into it during the quarter.
Unilever this morning reported underlying sales grew 3.0% that looks to have beaten the 2.7% expected by City analysts expected and the full-year outlook unchanged. The full-year outlook for 3-5% underlying sales growth and modest operating margin improvement was unchanged, with Unilever saying the direct impact of tariffs on profitability is “expected to be limited and manageable”.
UK
AJ Bell (AJB)
ASOS (ASC)
Inchcape (INCH)
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP)*
RELX (REL)
Spirent Communications (SPT)*
St James’s Place (STJ)
Unilever (ULVR)
US
Merck & Co (MRK) PMO
PepsiCo (PEP) PMO
Procter & Gamble (PG) PMO
Willis Towers Watson (WTW) PMO
Alphabet Inc (GOOG) E
Gilead Sciences (GILD) AMC
Intel Corp (INTC) AMC
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) PMO
UK
None
US
AbbVie (ABBV) PMO
Aon (AON) E
GE Vernova (GEV) PMO
SLB (SLB) PMO
US IMF Meeting
German IFO
US Durable Goods
US Initial Jobless Claims
BoE’s Lombardelli speech
Fed’s Kashkari speech
UK 100 companies going ex-dividend on 24th April 2025:
Haleon
Hiscox
Rightmove
Spirax Group
Legal & General Group
UK 250 companies going ex-dividend on 24th April 2025:
Foresight Solar Fund
ME Group International
Bankers Investment Trust
Hammerson
Morgan Sindall Group
PPHE Hotel Group
Drax Group
Derwent London
Shaftesbury Capital
Bakkavor Group
Vesuvius
Kier Group
Rotork
Bridgepoint Group
Bodycote
Haworth Trust
Alpha Group International
International Public Partners
Supermarket Income REIT
City of London Investment Trust
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