UK Stocks Turning In Mixed Performance; FTSE 100 Up Marginally At Noon

(RTTNews) - The U.K. market is up marginally around noon on Wednesday, extending is long winning streak, amid easing worries about trade tensions. Investors are also digesting a fresh batch of earnings updates, and data showing a bigger than expected drop in house prices.

China has reportedly compiled a list of U.S.-made goods exempt from its 125% tariffs - seeking to ease trade tensions without public concessions.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he believes the U.S. will have a deal with India on trade. The White House has also had "substantial talks" with Japan, and "the contours of a deal" with South Korea could be coming together, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

The benchmark FTSE 100, moving in a tight band between 8,455.22 and 8,487.21, was up 11.98 points or 0.14% at 8,475.44 a few minutes before noon.

GSK is up almost 4%. The company reported higher first-quarter profit and sales, and lifted quarterly dividend. Looking ahead, the company said it is confident for delivery of fiscal 2025 guidance.

In the first quarter, GSK's profit before tax grew to 2.11 billion pounds from last year's 1.36 billion pounds. Profit attributable to shareholders increased to 1.62 billion pounds from prior year's 1.05 billion pounds. Earnings per share were 39.3 pence, higher than 25.4 pence last year.

Smith & Nephew is gaining nearly 7%. British American Tobacco, Coca-Cola HBC, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Pershing Square Holdings, Spirax Group, Associated British Foods, SSE and Pearson are up 2 to 2.5%.

Schrodders, Convatec Group, Rentokil Initial, Diageo, Smiths Group, AstraZeneca, Imperial Brands, WPP, Diploma, Tesco, Vodafone Group and Intertek are also notably higher.

Glencore is down nearly 7%. Lloyds Banking Group, Antofagasta, Anglo American Plc., Natwest Group and HSBC Holdings are down 3 to 4%.

Rio Tinto, Prudential, Standard Chartered, Taylor Wimpey and Endeavour Mining are also down sharply.

Barclays is down 2%. Barclays reported that its first quarter profit before tax increased to 2.719 billion pounds from 2.277 billion pounds in the prior year.

Quarterly profit attributable to shareholders of the parent was 1.864 billion pounds or 13.0 pence per share up from 1.550 billion pounds or 10.3 pence per share in the prior year.

Haleon Plc shares are down 1.2%. The consumer healthcare company reported that first-quarter revenues declined 2.3% to 2.85 billion pounds from last year's 2.92 billion pounds.

On the economic front, UK house price declined more than expected in April following the end of stamp duty holidays, data from the Nationwide Building Society showed.

House prices logged a monthly drop of 0.6% after remaining flat in March. The decline was worse than economists' forecast of 0.1%. On a yearly basis, house price growth eased to 3.4% from 3.9% in the previous month. The expected rate of decline was 4.1%.