FTSE 100 Down Marginally In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks are subdued on Monday as investors monitor the developments on the trade front ahead of the July 9 deadline for U.S. reciprocal tariffs.

U.S. President Donald Trump has ruled out extending the July 9 deadline, expressing confidence that agreements would be reached in time to avoid higher tariffs.

While discussions with Japan continue, Canada moved to calm tensions after reversing its decision to impose a Digital Service Tax (DST) on American technology companies. Trump characterized trade in cars between the U.S. and Japan as unfair and floated the idea of keeping 25% tariffs on autos in place.

There is still some uncertainty over key details with regard to U.S.-China trade deal.

Meanwhile, a new trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom that reduces U.S. tariffs on British cars and aircraft parts officially came into effect today.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 14.44 points or 0.17% 8,784.47 a little while ago.

Rolls-Royce Holdings and Imperial Brands are gaining 1.7% and 1.5%, respectively. The Sage Group, Auto Trader Group, Coca-Cola HBC, Smith & Nephew, DCC and BSE Systems are up 0.8 to 1.2%.

Intermediate Capital Group is down 3.2%. Persimmon, Barratt Redrow, Taylor Wimpey, Experian, BT Group, Marks & Spencer, Prudential, Schroders, Standard Chartered and Centrica are down 1 to 2.2%.

In economic news, UK mortgage approvals increased for the first time so far this year in May, suggesting an improvement in housing market activity, figures from the Bank of England showed.

The net mortgage approvals for house purchases that indicate future borrowing rose by more-than-expected 2,400 to 63,000 in May. This was the first increase since December 2024 and also exceeded economists' forecast of 61,000.

Approvals for remortgaging also increased in May, by 6,200 to 41,500. This was the largest increase since February 2024, data showed.

Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals rose by GBP 2.8 billion to GBP 2.1 billion, following a large decrease of GBP 13.8 billion to -GBP 0.8 billion in April.