FTSE 100 gains on U.S.-China trade optimism
Reuters
Published Aug 25, 2020 08:16
Updated Aug 25, 2020 09:06
By Sagarika Jaisinghani
(Reuters) - The FTSE 100 rose for a second straight session on Tuesday as a pledge by Washington and Beijing to stand by their Phase-1 trade pact lifted global sentiment, while technology firm Aveva jumped after signing a $5 billion takeover deal.
The export-heavy FTSE 100 (FTSE) gained 0.6% and the mid-cap FTSE 250 (FTMC) 0.3% as a phone call between U.S. and Chinese trade officials calmed jitters the deal could be on shaky ground due to simmering tensions between the world's top two economies.
AstraZeneca Plc (L:AZN) rose 0.9% after launching a trial for an antibody-based treatment for COVID-19.
The drugmaker had logged its best session in a week on Monday as a report said the U.S. government was considering fast-tracking its experimental vaccine, already among the most advanced vaccine candidates.
"It seems investors are ignoring that the virus continues to spread fast around the globe," said Charalambos Pissouros, a market analyst at JFD Group.
"Perhaps the market believes that we have more cases due to more tests being conducted, and/or it may be looking at the better situation in terms of hospitalisation and death toll."
Global equity markets have already retraced most of their coronavirus-driven losses, powered by trillions of dollars in stimulus. The UK's FTSE 100 is on course for its best month since April 2018 even as concerns linger about a choppy economic recovery after a record contraction in the second quarter.
On Tuesday, debt collector Arrow Global (L:ARWA) posted a loss for the first half of the year, but its shares rose 0.9% as it said collections performance was improving.
Aveva Group (L:AVV) rose 1.6% as it said it would buy OSIsoft, a privately held maker of industrial software used to manage plants and factories, for an enterprise value of $5 billion.
Retailer DFS Furniture Plc (L:DFSD) jumped 15.1% after saying its performance over the last six weeks was significantly above its initial expectations.
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Written By: Reuters
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