Britain's FTSE fails to rebound after trade war sell-off

LONDON: UK shares opened in only slightly positive territory on Tuesday, failing to recoup losses from the previous session when fears of a full-blown trade war between the United States and the rest of the world led them to their worst performance since February.

At 0748 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.23 percent after a 2.2 percent loss on Monday.

While most European bourses are back in the black despite losses in Asia and on Wall Street, Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group, argued that with trade tensions persisting there is no reason for sentiment to shift.

"With no change to fundamentals, there is little hope that this is anything more than a mere dead cat bounce", Lawler wrote.

The sectors which weighed the most on the FTSE during Monday's sell-off provided some support in early trading with financials, oil majors and miners accounting for most of the gains.

Among individual stocks, cruise company Carnival posted the best performance, up 3.8 percent after its shares plunged during the previous session after it cut profit targets.

Inmarsat dropped over seven percent after Eutelsat  said it did not intend to make an offer for the British group, just a day after the French satellite group said it was considering going head-to-head with EchoStar in a battle for the British company.

Oilfield services firm Petrofac lost 1.5 percent after it reported a 5.9 percent increase in new order intake and said it was trading in line with expectations, helped by higher demand.

Among small stocks, struggling British floor coverings retailer Carpetright fell 2.3 percent after it reported a loss for 2017-18.