(Reuters) -British stocks ended higher on Monday tracking a global market rally as the United States and China reached a deal to reduce tariffs, easing investor fears about an all-out trade war disrupting global markets.
The two biggest economies announced that the U.S. will cut the extra tariffs it imposed on Chinese imports in April to 30% from 145%, while Chinese duties on U.S. imports will reduce to 10% from 125%. The new measures will be effective for 90 days.
Both the blue-chip FTSE 100 and the domestically focused midcap index gained 0.6%.
Industrial metal miners led the sectoral gains with 4.9% rise tracking gains in base metal prices. [MET/L]
Glencore and Anglo American gained 6.1% and 5.5%, respectively.
Ukraine-focused miner Ferrexpo jumped 8.2%, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed readiness to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Turkey on Thursday for talks.
Energy stocks gained 1.6% after oil prices jumped by about 4%. [O/R]
Heavyweight Shell and BP were among the top gainers in the FTSE 100, up 1.4% and 2.2%, respectively.
Burberry Group and Watches of Switzerland Group gained 3.7% and 4.9%, respectively, tracking gains in European luxury peers.
Meanwhile, precious metal miners stocks fell 5.5% after safe-haven gold fell more than 2%. [GOL/]
Separately, Bank of England monetary policymaker Megan Greene said that wage and inflation measures were moving in the right direction but remained too high and that she was worried about rising public inflation expectations.
Economic surveys point to growing pessimism among British employers regarding hiring plans after recent tax hikes and surging uncertainty in the global economy, aligning with BoE’s forecasts for a weakening labour market.
(Reporting by Ragini Mathur and Sanchayaita Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
