FTSE 100 in red as UK investor confidence dips

The FTSE 100 dipped during early trading on Thursday as fresh figures revealed a slide in UK investor confidence.

The UK’s flagship index was down 0.1 per cent, which followed on from two consecutive closes that came within a whisker of a record high. 

Equipment maker Halma, which posted record full-year revenue, was the index’s top riser at over five per cent. Tesco was also up over two per cent after a positive trading update.

Of the fallers, Easyjet slumped over three per cent and JD over two per cent. 

This came as new data revealed UK investor confidence dipped one per cent from May to June, which followed on from a 70 per cent jump in May after President Donald Trump rolled back his tariffs.

A similar picture was revealed across Europe, where investor confidence fell four per cent, Hargreaves Lansdown’s Investor Confidence Index showed.   

Trump uncertainty clouds markets

Kate Marshall, lead investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “June has seen a more mixed picture so far. 

“This isn’t a huge surprise given the ongoing uncertainty around tariffs from the Trump administration and the potential impact on businesses, and economies, across the globe”.

But the US saw a significant jump of 22 per cent, which follows Trump beginning to open his deal book to trading partners.

The UK and US penned a trade deal in early May, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer said would help the two nations’ economies “open up” to each other. 

But official data showed exports from the UK to the US suffered their largest monthly decrease since records began in April, ahead of the deal.

Marshall said: “It’s a stark difference from last month – while confidence in the North American market increased in May, the magnitude of the rise was much smaller than other markets.”

Trump set July 8 as the deadline for trade talks before higher tariffs are set to kick in.

The looming deadline has sent markets back into a period of anxiety after Trump said an extension would not be a “necessity”.

The President said: “At a certain point, we’re just going to send letters out… saying, ‘This is the deal. You can take it, or you can leave it.”

This led to European markets opening in a sea of red on Thursday.

Germany’s Dax was down 0.9 per cent and the Cac 40 in Paris 0.4 per cent during early trading. Amsterdam’s AEX tumbled 0.4 per cent.