FTSE 100 Modestly Higher On Earnings

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks are up in positive territory Friday morning, with investors reacting to some strong quarterly earnings updates. Tariff concerns limit market's upside.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who said 25% tariffs on EU imports will be announced "very soon," while confirming 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, as well as an additional 10% levey on Chinese imports, said a deal with UK could be reached without tariffs.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 26.70 points or 0.31% at 8,782.91 a little while ago.

Airline holding company International Consolidated Airlines Group is up 5.3% after the company reported a 38% jump in fourth-quarter profit to 608 million euros, from last year's 441 million euros.

Operating profit for the quarter grew 91.4% to 961 million euros. The company has also lined up a buyback worth Euro 1 billion.

IMI Plc shares are up 5.4% on strong results. The company reported fiscal 2024 pretax profit of 330.4 million pounds for the year ended 31 December 2024 compared to 302.4 million pounds, last year. Earnings per share was 95.6 pence compared to 91.2 pence.

Shares of Scottish engineering company Weir Group Plc are up 4.5% on impressive results. The company posted statutory profit before tax of 347 million pounds in fiscal 2024, up 8% from last year's 321 million pounds. On an adjusted basis, profit before tax came in at 428 million pounds, up 4% from 411 million pounds a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share climbed to 119.2 pence from 115.3 pence in fiscal 2023.

Haleon is gaining 4.3%. Persimmon, RightMove and Rolls-Royce Holdings are up 2.9 to 3.4%.

Pearson, Croda International, SSE, Vistry Group, Barratt Redrow, Taylor Wimpey, Barclays Group, Berkeley Group, Natwest Group, Diageo, Melrose Industries and Beazley are advancing 1 to 2%.

Smurfit is down 3.4%. Scottish Mortgage, Fresnillo, WPP, Antofagasta, Howden Joinery, Flutter Entertainment, 3i Group and Intermediate Capital are down 1 to 2.5%.

On the economic front, UK house prices increased more than expected in February as buyers brought forward their transactions ahead of stamp duty change in April, the Nationwide Building Society said.

House price grew at a pace of 0.4% on a monthly basis in February after a 0.1% gain in the previous month. Moreover, this was the sixth consecutive monthly increase and was also faster than forecast of 0.2%.

On a yearly basis, house prices growth softened to 3.9% from 4.1% in January. The annual growth was expected to ease more sharply to 3.4%.