Live: FTSE 100 slumps as global market rout continues

The UK’s blue-chip FTSE 100 slumped more than three per cent in early deals this morning as the global stock market rout that began at the end of last week continued.

Fears that Donald Trump will sustain his trade war continued over the weekend after the US President made comments on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“We have massive Financial Deficits with China, the European Union, and many others. The only way this problem can be cured is with TARIFFS, which are now bringing Tens of Billions of Dollars into the U.S.A. They are already in effect, and a beautiful thing to behold,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Asked later about the market turbulence following the announcements, Trump told reporters that “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”

More than $5 trillion was wiped off the S&P 500 on Thursday and Friday last week, the worst performance since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The index slumped more than 10 per cent in two days after Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement.”

Overnight, Asian equities plunged as they reopened after a holiday in Japan on Friday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led declines as it plunged 10.7 per cent, followed by a 9.7 per cent drop in Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex. 

Selling was halted in Taiwan and South Korea as circuit breakers were triggered.

HSBC and Standard Chartered’s Hong Kong-listed shares tumbled 15 per cent and as much as 17 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, trading in key Apple suppliers, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Foxconn was halted in Taipei on Monday morning after both plunged more than 10 per cent.