FTSE 100 steady after intraday record high; focus on Putin-Trump talks
The blue-chip index was steady as of 1000 GMT, yet appears poised to end the week with gains.
The week's advances were fueled by growing optimism surrounding potential US interest rate cuts, better-than-expected UK Gross Domestic Product data and a series of largely positive corporate earnings reports.
The aerospace and defence sector emerged as Friday's underperformer, declining 1.8%, ahead of the scheduled high-stakes meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska later in the day.
Investors will be watching the summit closely for any signs of a credible peace deal, with any substantive outcomes likely setting the market tone for the coming week.
Energy sector, up 0.2%, was also in focus as a potential ceasefire could result in the easing of sanctions on Russian oil exports, potentially placing downward pressure on global crude prices.
Supporting the gains on London's benchmark, industrial metal miners strengthened 2%, as weak economic data from key commodities consumer China fueled hopes that it would spur Beijing to unleash more stimulus measures.
The midcap index gained 0.3% in the day, though it remains on track to close the week with losses.
Bytes Technology was the top performer on the index, rising 7.4% as the IT firm announced a 25 million pounds ($33.89 million) share repurchase program. Reuters
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Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Trump-Putin direct talks over Ukraine conclude as summit stretches on
ANCHORAGE: U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met face-to-face for almost three hours over Moscow's war in Ukraine on Friday, the Kremlin said, as the two world leaders sought an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe in 80 years. There was no immediate word on whether the talks had produced any progress toward a ceasefire in the war, a goal that Trump had set at the outset. The pair were set to jointly speak to reporters shortly. Trump and Putin, along with top foreign-policy aides, conferred in a room at an Air Force base in Anchorage, Alaska in their first meeting since 2019. A blue backdrop behind them had the words 'Pursuing Peace' printed on it. Trump's publicly stated aim for the talks was to secure a halt to the fighting and a commitment by Putin to meet swiftly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to negotiate an end to the war, which began when Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. Earlier in the week, Trump said he would know if Putin was serious about peace within minutes of seeing him. He also threatened to walk out of the talks if they were unproductive. Zelenskiy, who was not invited to the summit, and his European allies fear Trump might sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict with Russia and recognizing - if only informally - Russian control over one-fifth of Ukraine. Trump says Putin summit a prelude to real Ukraine dealmaking Trump sought to assuage such concerns as he boarded Air Force One, saying he would let Ukraine decide on any possible territorial swaps. 'I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine, I'm here to get them at a table,' he said. Asked what would make the meeting a success, he told reporters: 'I want to see a ceasefire rapidly … I'm not going to be happy if it's not today … I want the killing to stop.' Once on the ground in Alaska, Trump greeted Putin on a red carpet on the base's tarmac. The two shook hands warmly and touched each other on the arm before riding in Trump's limo to the summit site nearby. The initial talks also included U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump's special envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff, Russian foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Trump hopes a truce in the 3-1/2-year-old war that Putin started will bring peace to the region as well as bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. For Putin, the summit is already a big win that he can portray as evidence that years of Western attempts to isolate Russia have unravelled and that Moscow is retaking its rightful place at the top table of international diplomacy. Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court, accused of the war crime of deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia denies allegations of war crimes and the Kremlin has dismissed the ICC warrant as null and void. Russia and the United States are not members of the court. Both Moscow and Kyiv deny targeting civilians in the war. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. A conservative estimate of dead and injured in the war in Ukraine - from both sides combined - totals 1.2 million people, Trump's envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said in May. Trump, who once said he would end Russia's war in Ukraine within 24 hours, conceded on Thursday it had proven a tougher task than he had expected. He said if Friday's talks went well, quickly arranging a second, three-way summit with Zelenskiy would be more important than his encounter with Putin. Trump warns of make-or-break chance with Putin as pressure mounts Zelenskiy said Friday's summit should open the way for a 'just peace' and three-way talks that included him, but added that Russia was continuing to wage war. A Russian ballistic missile earlier struck Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, killing one person and wounding another. 'It's time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America,' Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Zelenskiy has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory and is also seeking a security guarantee backed by the United States. 'Smart guy' Trump said before the summit that there is mutual respect between him and Putin. 'He is a smart guy, been doing it for a long time, but so have I … We get along,' Trump said of Putin. He also welcomed Putin's decision to bring businesspeople to Alaska. 'But they're not doing business until we get the war settled,' he said, repeating a threat of 'economically severe' consequences for Russia if the summit goes badly. The United States has had internal discussions on using Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker vessels to support the development of gas and LNG projects in Alaska as one of the possible deals to aim for, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Trump will seek to squeeze Ukraine ceasefire deal out of Putin at Alaska summit One source acquainted with Kremlin thinking said there were signs Moscow could be ready to strike a compromise on Ukraine, given that Putin understood Russia's economic vulnerability and costs of continuing the war. Reuters has previously reported that Putin might be willing to freeze the conflict along the front lines, provided there was a legally binding pledge not to enlarge NATO eastwards and to lift some Western sanctions. NATO has said Ukraine's future is in the alliance. Russia, whose war economy is showing strain, is vulnerable to further U.S. sanctions - and Trump has threatened tariffs on buyers of Russian crude, primarily China and India. 'For Putin, economic problems are secondary to goals, but he understands our vulnerability and costs,' the Russian source said. Putin this week held out the prospect of something else he knows Trump wants - a new nuclear arms control accord to replace the last surviving one, which is due to expire in February. Russia has said it is open to a full ceasefire but that how it would be monitored needs to be agreed. One compromise could be a truce in the air war.
Express Tribune
5 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Russia to test new nuclear-powered cruise missile, claims Ukraine
A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launcher rolls on Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2024. PHOTO: AFP Russia is preparing to test its new nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered cruise missile and if successful, plans to use the results to bolster its negotiating position with the West, Ukrainian military intelligence said on Friday. Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for the service, issued the written statement to Reuters just before US President Donald Trump was due to hold talks in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin on ending Moscow's war in Ukraine. He did not give an assessment of the possible timing of the test in the statement, given in response to questions submitted by Reuters for a report published on Tuesday that Moscow was preparing to test the 9M730 Burevestnik cruise missile. Read More: Trump says Putin ready to make deal on Ukraine He did not say how his service arrived at its assessment. It has for years received intelligence from the United States and its NATO allies, and it has its own networks inside Russia. Reuters on Tuesday reported two US researchers and a Western security source as saying that Moscow was readying a test of the Burevestnik at its Pankovo test site on the Barents Sea archipelago of Novaya Zemlya. The researchers said imagery from Planet Labs, a commercial satellite firm, showed extensive activities at the site, increases in personnel and equipment and the presence of ships and aircraft associated with previous tests of the weapon dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO. The Russian defense ministry, the Pentagon and the CIA declined to comment for that report. The White House did not comment directly on whether a test was being prepared, saying in response to a question about it that Trump wanted peace in Ukraine. Yusov said Moscow, which has threatened to use nuclear weapons over the Ukraine war, saw a test as diplomatic leverage. Also Read: India and China work to improve ties amid Trump's unpredictability "Russia is preparing for another round of tests of the 9M730 Burevestnik," his statement said. "The purpose of these tests is to validate scientific and technical solutions implemented by the missile." "If successful, Russia will leverage the test results to defend its interests in negotiations with the West," he continued. Putin has said the weapon is "invincible" to missile defenses, with an almost unlimited range and unpredictable flight path. But many experts say it is unclear if the missile can evade defenses, would not give Moscow capabilities it does not already have, and would spew radiation. The Burevestnik has a poor test record, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative advocacy group, with two partial successes among 13 known tests.
Express Tribune
5 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Pak-Afghan relations: winds of change?
Are we in for a radical change in Pak-Afghan relations after an unprecedented move by proponents of the former Northern Alliance, many of whom now embody the National Resistance Front (NRF) of Afghanistan, led by Ahmed Masood, the son of the late Ahmed Shah Masood? Or does a rude shock await the new Kabul regime through new alignments involving Tajikistan, the historical base of the Northern Alliance? But before delving into the Pak-Afghan issue, let's look at three critical developments in the current "world in flux". President Donald Trump's peace and tariffs offensives are indeed enforcing recalibration, if not major shifts, in global alliances. Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin — regardless of immediate outcomes — marks a defining moment both for their bilateral relations and the present turbulent geopolitics. Secondly, after China's upfront posturing on the tariffs issue forced Trump into extending the deadline for trade negotiations, Indian business executives and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are slowly upping the India card with their anti-America rhetoric. This is triggering calls across India for boycotting McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Amazon and Apple, among others — all prompted by US tariffs on exports from India, which is the biggest market for Meta's WhatsApp and beverages like Pepsi, Coca-Cola or Starbucks. India, being the world's most populous country and the fourth largest economy, certainly sees value in leveraging its soft power vis-à-vis a strident Trump, not ready to bend - at least for now. Thirdly, and it relates to the messaging, Trump's policies on tariffs and conflict are radiating with a "sobering" effect on the smaller and weaker stakeholders across the globe. And one wonders if the Independence Day felicitations from the traditionally pro-India and anti-Taliban NRF, a successor to the Northern Alliance, also flow from President Trump's indirect messaging. The unprecedented NRF message (congratulations to Pakistan and its people on the occasion of the country's Independence Day) comes in the context of an argument that present Taliban government leaders often peddle in private; Northern Afghan groups would brand us as "pro-Pakistan if we shunned the historical Afghan position on the border issue." It is worth recalling that when the US launched its bombing of Kabul on October 7, 2001, in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and Washington, their partner on the ground was Masood's Shoorae Nazar, then led by Marshal Faheem. Masood had been assassinated by Al-Qaeda militants disguised as journalists in his native Takhar province only two days before the 9/11 attacks. The entire politics of Shoorae Nazar was anti-Pakistan, pro-India, and they had always leveled allegations that sounded like coming from India. Most of their leaders lived in India before and after the 9/11 attacks. Even Masood Khalili, who was injured in the attack on Ahmed Shah Masood, was taken to India for treatment. It is nothing but ironic that following decades of acrimonious posturing, the successor to Shoorae Nazar — NRF — has extended an olive branch to Islamabad through an encouraging Independence Day message. Now that the late Ahmed Shah Masood's son has formally congratulated Pakistan, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi also sent similar greetings to his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar, according to an official announcement from Muttaqi's office. The exchange of greetings also coincided with the celebration of "Victory Day" — when the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan on a Sunday, August 15, four years ago. Does the festive mood - a mix of hope and goodwill — around Pakistan's Independence Day, Afghanistan's "Victory Day", followed by the Afghan Independence Day on August 19 coupled with positive messaging from the NRF offer a chance to Afghans in general and to the Taliban regime in particular to build on their expression of goodwill for Pakistan? Can the development help Afghans embrace the reality of Pakistan as it has existed since 1947, abandon the old clichéd narratives that often belittle and accuse it of treating Afghanistan as a colony, and move on in favour of an equal-footed cordial relationship between the two uneasy neighbouring countries? Have the winds of change begun blowing to improve Pak-Afghan relations, or should the NRF felicitation gesture signal something ominous to Pakistan, particularly at a time when both China and Russia have courted the Taliban leadership, with Moscow recognising the Kabul regime to the displeasure of the Trump administration? How would Taliban leaders view the recently concluded Pakistan-Tajikistan Counter-Terrorism Exercises Dosti-ll (August 4-9) in a country that historically served as the base for Shoorae Nazar during the anti-Soviet jihad? Dushanbe, the capital, also symbolised the shelter and support (including from India) to Ahmed Shah Masood's militia in its fight against the Taliban until the 9/11 events, and continues to be the hub of NRF activities.
