US and China’s move to restart trade talks calms fragile investors
HOPES of an end to the tariffs stand-off eased the pressure on global markets after the US and China vowed to restart trade talks.
Beijing revealed that its negotiators will fly out to the US for early stage talks later this month. An emerging markets wobble and metals slump worried markets on Wednesday but tentative signs of progress started to restore fragile investor confidence yesterday.
The attempt to reboot trade talks comes after the world’s two largest economies slapped tariffs on $34bn (£27bn) of each other’s goods and threatened to impose import taxes on billions more. The US will put tariffs on an additional $16bn of goods later this month and Donald Trump has asked officials to consider a 25pc tariff on a further $200bn of Chinese imports. Beijing will hit $60bn of US products with tariffs in retaliation.
Mining stocks led the rebound in London despite lingering jitters over slowing Chinese growth, which knocked Asian markets overnight. The FTSE 350 mining index rallied away from a 2018 low. Glencore clawed back 6.4p to 304.9p while BHP
Billiton regained 19.2p to £16.32.
The FTSE 100’s recovery was hampered by a slew of companies going exdividend but the index still advanced 58.51 points to 7,556.38. Across the Atlantic the Dow Jones’s rebound was given a shot in the arm by interim results from US grocery giant Walmart smashing Wall Street estimates. A strong pickup in e-commerce sales lifted the supermarket’s figures as its shares enjoyed their biggest intraday gain in 10 years. Signs the move to online shopping is accelerating in the US helped Ocado jump 40p to £10.57 in London in the wake of its deal with American grocer Kroger. Elsewhere, copper miner
Kaz Minerals rallied off a 13-month low after placating unruly investors with its first dividend in six years. Kaz fell 28pc earlier this month after shelling out almost £700m for a remote copper project in Russia. An interim dividend of six US cents a share helped the FTSE 250 miner regain 12.8p to 560.2p. Paving firm
Marshalls climbed 61p to 483.4p after revealing that it has identified a number of takeover targets. Summit Therapeutics
soared 3.5p to 38p after bagging an extra $12m of funding for the development of an antibiotic to treat clostridium difficile infection. Petrofac slipped 10.8p to 605.4p on a Jefferies downgrade to “neutral”.
On currency markets, the lira clawed back a further 5.5pc against the dollar as Turkey’s finance minister said inflation was his top priority, before paring gains after Washington warned of further US sanctions.