FTSE 100 Up Slightly As Investors Await Further News On Trade, U.S. Inflation Data
(RTTNews) - U.K.'s benchmark index FTSE 100 is roughly flat a little over an hour past noon on Wednesday with investors making cautious moves, reacting to news about U.S.-China trade talks, and some corporate updates, while awaiting the crucial inflation data from the U.S.
After two days of discussions in London to arrive at a mutually agreeable framework that will help ease trade tensions, top U.S. and Chinese officials reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus.
If approved, the Sino-U.S. deal will remove some restrictions on China's rare earth exports and unwind a few recent U.S. export bans.
The FTSE 100, which advanced to 8,885.57 earlier, was up 5.25 points or 0.06% at 8,858.33 a little while ago.
British homebuilder shares are up ahead of a public spending announcement from the U.K. finance minister.
BT Group and Prudential are up 2.2% and 2.1%, respectively. Barratt Redrow, Standard Chartered, Babcock International, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Weir Group, Berkeley Group Holdings, Glencore, Taylor Wimpey and Coca-Cola HBC are gaining 1 to 2%.
Ricardo Plc shares are up nearly 27% after the engineering group agreed to a £281 million takeover by Canadian consultancy WSP Global.
Melrose Industries is down more than 2%. Marks & Spencer is down 1.8%, while 3i Group, Antofagasta, St. James's Place, Rentokil Initial, JD Sports Fashion, Unite Group, Schroders and Legal & General are lower by 0.9 to 1.6%.
Ibstock Plc shares are plunging nearly 14%. The building materials manufacturer has warned of margins pressure despite reporting higher first-half sales.
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