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Blue chip stock indices in London, Paris and Frankfurt opened lower on Friday, with London-listed banks’ stocks falling after the Institute for Public Policy Research said that the UK government could impose a windfall tax on lenders. The FTSE 100 index opened down 21.65 points, 0.2%, at 9,195.17. The FTSE 250 was down 57.37 points, 0.3%, at 21,687.03, and the AIM All-Share was up 2.66 points, 0.4%, at 763.87. The Cboe UK 100 was 0.4% lower at 922.19, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.3% at 19,023.01, and the Cboe Small Companies lost 0.1% at 17,278.17. In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was 0.6% lower, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.2%. Investors are focused on personal consumption expenditures data due at 1330 BST, which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. Markets are watching the impact of tariffs as a further increase in the rate of US price inflation could complicate matters further for the Federal Reserve in its deliberations on interest rates. JPMorgan estimates that the Fed’s preferred core personal consumption expenditures price gauge rose 0.3% on-month in July, for an annual rate of 2.9%, accelerating from 2.8% in June, and drifting further away from the Fed’s 2.0% inflation goal. The pound was lower at $1.3490 early Friday, from $1.3513 at the London equities close on Thursday. The euro traded at $1.1674, up slightly from $1.1668 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was marginally lower at JP¥146.99 versus JP¥147.02. In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo closed down 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite finished 0.4% higher, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong climbed 0.5%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.1%. In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.2%, the S&P 500 0.3% higher and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.5%. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury was unchanged at 4.22%. The yield on the 30-year slimmed to 4.90% from 4.91%. In London, banking shares sank across the board after a think tank said they should face a windfall tax. NatWest was the worst performer on the FTSE 100 and fell 4.9%. Lloyds was down 3.8% and Barclays dropped 3.4%. The Institute for Public Policy Research said UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves could impose a windfall tax on lenders. The think tank said an annual tax would raise £32.3 billion across the five-year parliamentary term, to give Reeves £3.6 billion of extra headroom against her fiscal rules. On the FTSE 250 index, Keller Group was the best performer and climbed 1.8%. Deutsche Bank Research raised the geotechnical specialist contractor to ’buy’ from ’hold’, as it said the de-rating of the firm has been overdone. Hunting climbed 1.2%, partly bouncing back after it fell 2.9% on Thursday as it reported increased revenue but lower profit in the first half of 2025 against a ‘volatile’ market backdrop. On the AIM market, Galantas Gold climbed 9.8%. The gold mining company said its pretax loss in the six months to the end of June narrowed to C$213,001, around £114,850, from C$261,157 a year ago. Eqtec sank 18%. The licensor of syngas technology for conversion of waste into sustainable energy and biofuels proposed a capital reorganisation to reduce the nominal value of ordinary shares. capAI shares climbed 9.5%. The company focused on artificial intelligence systems for media and medicine said it has executed a licence and option agreement with R43 Group for Creator42 an AI creative hub designed to transform written works into cinematic content across social media and film. The agreement is aligned with the non-binding heads of terms agreed earlier in August. Gold was quoted at $3,412.70 an ounce early Friday, higher than $3,407.04 on Thursday. Brent oil was trading higher at $67.61 a barrel from $67.51. As well as US personal consumption expenditures data, still to come on Friday are Canadian GDP numbers and a CPI print in Germany. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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