FTSE 100 Rises Over 0.5%

(RTTNews) - After a flat start, U.K. stocks have gained some ground in positive territory on Friday with investors largely shrugging of an announcement of a fresh round of tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump announced on Thursday that branded pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S. will be levied a 100% tariff, and heavy-duty trucks will be imposed a 25% levy, effective October 1st. He has also proposed levies on kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities.and upholstered furniture.

Investors are also looking ahead to the crucial U.S. PCE data due later in the day.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 47.37 points or 0.51% at 9,261.35 nearly an hour past noon.

Intercontinental Hotels Group is gaining more than 2.5%. Hikma Pharmaceuticals is rising 2.3% and Natwest Group is up 2.1%.

Convatec Group, which ended sharply lower on Thursday, has moved up nearly 2% today. Kingfisher, Weir Group, Rentokil Initial, Phoenix Group Holdings, Tesco, Babcock International, Aviva, Smith & Nephew, Relx, BAE Systems and Barclays are gaining 1 to 1.7%.

Metlen Energy & Metals is down more than 2%. Rio Tinto is declining 1.7%, while Spirax Group and Endeavour Mining are down 1.4% and 1.3%, respectively.

Diageo, Fresnillo, Informa, DCC, Bunzl, The Sage Group and Halma are also notably lower.