London midday: Stocks rise amid renewed trade deal optimism
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Wednesday 09 Oct 2019
(Sharecast News) - London stocks had gained ground by midday on Wednesday amid signs of progress ahead of this week's Sino-US trade talks.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 7,187.12, rising in tandem with European peers on news that China is still open to agreeing a partial trade deal with the US.
Bloomberg cited an official with direct knowledge of the talks as saying that Beijing is focused on limiting the damage to the world's second-largest economy.
The official told Bloomberg that negotiators heading to Washington for trade talks on Thursday are not optimistic about securing a broad agreement that would end the trade spat for good. However, China would accept a limited deal as long as no more tariffs are imposed by US President Donald Trump, including two rounds of higher duties due to take effect this month and in December.
In return, Beijing would offer non-core concessions such as purchases of agricultural products without giving in on major sticking points, the official said.
A report from the Financial Times also helped to underpin the tone, as it said Chinese officials are offering to increase annual purchases of US agricultural products by $10bn a year.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "These discussions are being invested with so much importance that it feels as if the very future of the bull market is probably at stake."
On home shores, sterling briefly popped higher after The Times said the EU was ready to make a "major concession" to Prime Minster Boris Johnson by proposing a mechanism for the Northern Irish assembly to leave a new backstop after a number of years.
The pound's gains were short-lived, however, and by midday, the currency was down 0.1% against the dollar at 1.2210 and 0.3% weaker versus the euro at 1.1119.
David Cheetham, chief market analyst at XTB, said: "While this appears constructive No 10 has already told the EU that it won't accept a Northern Ireland only backstop - regardless of a time-limit - and it's quite feasible that this is little more than posturing and the next move in the Brexit blame game."
In equity markets, Just Eat racked up solid gains after Dutch online food delivery firm Takeaway.com posted an 87% jump in third-quarter orders thanks to organic growth and acquisitions.
Gambling company GVC Holdings rallied as it upgraded its full-year profit forecasts after a strong third quarter driven by online revenues. The company said it now expected earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation to be in the range of £670m - £680m, up from £650m - £670m.
Domino's Pizza was knocked lower after Jefferies started the stock at 'underperform', while pub group Marston's was also lower after a reinstatement at 'underperform' by the same outfit.
AJ Bell was in the red after an initiation at 'sell' by Liberum.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,187.12 0.62%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,204.73 0.02%
techMARK (TASX) 3,834.98 0.29%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Anglo American (AAL) 1,854.91p 2.12%
ITV (ITV) 121.75p 2.10%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,874.40p 1.79%
Carnival (CCL) 3,134.00p 1.72%
Just Eat (JE.) 635.80p 1.66%
CRH (CRH) 2,646.00p 1.57%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 236.20p 1.50%
BT Group (BT.A) 178.52p 1.35%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,795.00p 1.33%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 7,112.00p 1.31%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Halma (HLMA) 1,897.00p -1.91%
Rightmove (RMV) 528.00p -1.82%
Next (NXT) 5,866.00p -1.68%
Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) 7,746.00p -1.65%
Fresnillo (FRES) 678.20p -1.54%
Centrica (CNA) 68.32p -1.53%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 605.60p -1.46%
Pearson (PSON) 701.80p -0.85%
Tesco (TSCO) 228.10p -0.74%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,014.80p -0.55%
FTSE 250 - Risers
GVC Holdings (GVC) 771.80p 2.91%
Trainline (TRN) 420.50p 2.81%
SIG (SHI) 102.10p 2.77%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 199.80p 2.36%
Hays (HAS) 140.90p 2.03%
Hilton Food Group (HFG) 1,008.00p 1.92%
Rank Group (RNK) 185.40p 1.87%
Ascential (ASCL) 354.60p 1.72%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,340.50p 1.55%
IntegraFin Holding (IHP) 361.00p 1.55%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 2,830.00p -5.98%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 323.40p -5.11%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 131.80p -3.80%
Drax Group (DRX) 266.20p -3.69%
Renishaw (RSW) 3,514.00p -2.28%
Spectris (SXS) 2,293.00p -2.22%
AJ Bell (AJB) 365.50p -2.01%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 501.40p -1.99%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 177.13p -1.92%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 3.73p -1.89%
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