Finance
Healthcare sector leads British stocks lower as trade war intensifies
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 9, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 9, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
British stocks fell as trade tensions between the U.S. and China escalated, impacting pharmaceuticals and raising recession risks.
(Reuters) -British stocks ended lower on Wednesday, dragged by heavyweight pharmaceutical stocks, while markets remained focused on tariff escalations between the U.S. and China.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 slipped 2.9%, after recording its strongest session since March 2022 in the previous one.
The domestically focused midcap index fell 2.5%.
Hopes for concessions faded after rounds of tariff retaliation by the world's two major economies, as China announced 84% tariffs on U.S. goods, up from 34%, in response to U.S. levies of 104% on Beijing starting on Thursday.
Pharma and biotech stocks fell 6.1%, leading sectoral declines, alongside European and U.S. peers after U.S. President Donald Trump signalled he would announce a "major" tariff on pharmaceutical imports.
AstraZeneca and GSK were among the worst performers on the FTSE 100, down 6.8% and 5.7% respectively.
Trump's sweeping tariffs have also sparked retaliation from others, including Canada and the European Union, disrupting a global trading order and raising the likelihood of recession.
Britain faces import duties of 10%, the Bank of England has warned that global economic risks have increased and the UK remains particularly vulnerable as an open economy with a large financial sector.
All major sectors were down, barring precious metal miners which rose as gold prices climbed on safe-haven demand. [GOL/].
British 30-year gilt yields surged to their highest since May 1998, following another sharp rise in U.S. Treasury yields as investors sold off even safe-haven government bonds.
Utilities, often traded as a bond proxy, were down 2.2%.
Energy stocks dropped 4.8%, as oil prices plunged as much as 7%, hitting new four-year lows before recovering ground. [O/R]
Industrial metal miners fell 2.2%, after copper prices fell to an eight-month low as China's retaliation against U.S. tariffs reduced buying interest. [MET/L]
On the flip side, JD Sports gained 9.5% after the sportswear retailer forecast in line annual profitability despite market volatility.
Assura led the gains in the midcap index, up 5.1%, after a KKR-Stonepeak consortium agreed to buy the healthcare REIT for 1.61 billion pounds ($2.06 billion).
(Reporting by Ragini Mathur and Sanchayaita Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and Ed Osmond)
The article discusses the decline in British stocks due to escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China, impacting various sectors.
Pharmaceutical stocks fell significantly, with AstraZeneca and GSK among the worst performers on the FTSE 100.
Despite the overall decline, JD Sports and Assura saw gains due to specific positive developments.
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