FTSE 100 SURGES, GLOBAL MARKETS RISE AFTER TECH TARIFF REPRIEVE

LONDON, April 14 (Bernama-dpa) -- The FTSE 100 joined a global stock market rebound on Monday morning, despite warnings from the US that tariff exemptions on electronics are only a temporary reprieve, reported German news agency (dpa). 

London's blue-chip index surged 1.97 per cent, or 157 points to 8121, in early trades.

Investors are betting that tech groups such as Apple will benefit from a carve-out from Trump's so-called reciprocal trade tariffs, which include a 145 per cent levy on Chinese imports.

But the optimism was likely tempered after White House officials spent Sunday downplaying the significance of the exemptions.

"They're exempt from the reciprocal tariffs but they're included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told ABC on Sunday.

Trump added to the confusion hours later, saying on social media that there was no "exception" because the goods are "just moving to a different" bucket.

He said they will still face a 20 per cent tariff as part of his administration's move to punish China for its role in fentanyl trafficking.

Markets in Asia rebounded, with Japan's Nikkei 225 rising 1.2 per cent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rising 2.2 per cent.

Germany's DAX index rose 1.9 per cent in early trades, while France's CAC 40 was up 1.8 per cent.

Richard Hunter, an analyst at Interactive Investor, said UK markets have lately been "ever subject to changing conditions which has seen any initial strength dissipating over recent trading sessions as new global developments emerge".

Nonetheless, the FTSE's spike "shows some evidence of continued interest in the UK as an investment destination amid the turmoil elsewhere".

Early gains in the UK included companies with more exposure to China, such as Prudential and Standard Chartered, which saw three per cent and 3.5 per cent increases in share price, respectively.

Barclays, which has significant US exposure, also surged four per cent in early trading.

The Trump administration had said late on Friday that it would exclude electronics from broader so-called reciprocal tariffs, designed to keep the prices down for phones and other consumer products made abroad.

China's Commerce Ministry, in a Sunday statement, welcomed the change as a small step even as it called for the US to cancel the rest of its tariffs.

Sparing electronics was expected to benefit big tech companies such as Apple and Samsung, and chip makers such as Nvidia.

It was the latest tariff change by the Trump administration, which has made several U-turns in its massive plan to put tariffs in place on goods from most countries.

Investors will next turn to the opening bell on Wall Street on Monday afternoon, after the tariff turmoil battered the stocks of tech’s "Magnificent Seven" last week: Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta.

At one point, their combined market value had plunged by US$2.1 trillion, or 14 per cent, from April 2 when Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs on a wide range of countries.

When he paused the tariffs apart from China on Wednesday, the lost value in those companies was pared to US$644 billion, or a four per cent decline.

-- BERNAMA-dpa