London open: Stocks rally on Sino-US trade hopes; Future surges

At 0840 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.9% at 7,493.96, trading at its best level in two months, while the pound was down 0.2% against the dollar at 1.2670 and up 0.2% versus the euro at 1.1188.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "Though they have been here before, the global markets proved ready and willing to swallow the latest trade war retreat from the USA and China.

"The much-anticipated G20-sidebar between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping didn’t disappoint. According to the US President trade negotiations are now ‘right back on track’, Trump then pledging that he won’t be adding additional tariffs onto Chinese goods - ‘for the time being’. Xi, meanwhile, called for ‘cooperation and dialogue’, the Beijing leader no doubt keen to get talks up and running given Monday’s Caixin manufacturing PMI unexpectedly contracted.

"Maybe the biggest surprise was that the Trump administration is now allowing US companies to trade with Huawei once again - though the tech firm isn’t off the Entity List just yet. The move has caused controversy in the US, where they are a still a lot of security concerns surrounding Huawei, with people not happy that those worries have been set aside so the company could instead be used as a political pawn."

In equity markets, specialist media platform Future surged as it said full-year results would be above expectations, underpinned by acquisitions and good audience growth. The company added that chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand would step down from her role to become chief strategy officer from 1 January 2020. In a brief trading update, Future said the positive trends seen in the first half of the year had continued into the second six months.

AstraZeneca ticked higher as it said European regulators have delivered a positive opinion on the cardiovascular outcomes of its type-2 diabetes treatment, Forxiga, that would see more people benefit from the drug.

Aston Martin saw its shares rise after Strategic European Investment Group, which is a subsidiary of private equity firm Investindustrial Advisors, said it was considering buying a 3% stake worth £68m in the luxury car maker.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,493.96 0.92%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,643.19 0.93%
techMARK (TASX) 3,677.55 0.66%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Melrose Industries (MRO) 188.85p 4.42%
CRH (CRH) 2,629.00p 2.62%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 371.50p 2.48%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 543.50p 2.45%
ITV (ITV) 110.45p 2.27%
NMC Health (NMC) 2,457.00p 2.25%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,304.00p 2.22%
Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 2,433.00p 2.14%
Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,883.60p 1.99%
Barclays (BARC) 152.78p 1.99%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Fresnillo (FRES) 849.82p -2.34%
Next (NXT) 5,458.00p -1.23%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 472.10p -1.01%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 209.40p -0.62%
Carnival (CCL) 3,465.00p -0.40%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,719.00p -0.32%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,196.00p -0.29%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,043.50p -0.22%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 195.55p -0.20%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 572.00p -0.10%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Future (FUTR) 1,080.00p 11.46%
Premier Oil (PMO) 80.12p 4.19%
Funding Circle Holdings (FCH) 186.00p 3.45%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 216.29p 3.24%
Hunting (HTG) 526.50p 3.13%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,592.50p 2.97%
Drax Group (DRX) 267.32p 2.74%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 15.12p 2.70%
Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 827.00p 2.61%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 289.20p 2.48%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Centamin (DI) (CEY) 111.23p -2.77%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 124.30p -2.05%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 585.09p -1.33%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 189.00p -1.25%
Equiniti Group (EQN) 217.20p -1.18%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 5,502.00p -1.04%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 175.52p -1.00%
John Laing Group (JLG) 390.60p -0.81%
Marston's (MARS) 115.81p -0.77%
UDG Healthcare Public Limited Company (UDG) 793.00p -0.75%