Investors watching thawing trade war

The FTSE 100 rose 0.12%, or 8.57 points, to 7,396.65 yesterday as investors kept their sights on the thawing trade war between the US and China.

Markets are pinning their hopes on a potential deal between the world’s two biggest economies.

London’s blue-chip index was pulled back from further gains by telecoms giant BT, which fell 9.46p to 193.14p after losing a major contract to Vodafone. Sportswear retailer JD Sports was also in reverse, off 17.8p at 741.80p.

Sterling fell 0.1% against the dollar, to 1.2870, and registered a similar drop against the euro, slipping to 1.1621.

Benchmark Brent crude oil fell just over 2% to $61.72 per barrel.

Meanwhile, recently delisted Merlin

“Delisted Merlin Entertainments has Legoland plansforChina”

Entertainments – the company behind Madame Tussauds and the London Dungeons – revealed plans to open a Legoland in China.

A near-£6 billion deal completed earlier this week saw Merlin acquired by Kirkbi, the investment vehicle of Lego’s Danish founding family, private equity firm Blackstone and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board.

Yesterday, Merlin said an agreement has been signed to develop the new Legoland resort in Shanghai under a joint venture with Kirkbi and Chinese state-backed media and entertainment conglomerate CMC Inc.

The £500 million resort will be the biggest Legoland in the world once opened after 2023.

Merlin boss Nick Varney said: “Shanghai is already the home for many Merlin brands, and it has been our ambition for some time to build a full-scale theme park.”