FTSE buoyed as trade war fears recede

Market report Emma Newlands

Global stocks started to recover after US poresident Donald Trump’s administration pulled back from plans to restrict Chinese investment in US tech companies.

The FTSE 100 made notable gains, ending the day up 83.77 points at 7,621.69, while the French CAC 40 and the German DAX rose around 0.9 per cent each.

The sentiment was also starting to lift US stocks, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 rising 0.8 per cent and 0.5 per cent in early trading.

David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said stock markets in Europe were stronger “as Washington DC will be taking a softer stance on international investment. The move from the Trump administration gave investors some hope that a full-on trade war will be avoided, and this prompted a wave of buying.” That relief helped lift the dollar, sending the pound down 0.6 per cent against the greenback to trade at $1.314. Sterling fell 0.1 per cent versus the euro to €1.133.

In UK stocks, IWG slumped 9.1p to 315.1p after the workspace provider said its UK business “is not performing to management expectations”, and operating profit for 2018 is expected to be below previous expectations of between £15 million and £20m.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 included Micro Focus International, up 59p at 1,323p, Ocado Group, up 40p at 1,061p, and Rollsroyce Holdings, up 31.2p at 961.2p. The biggest fallers included Just Eat, down 57.8p at 755.2p, Bunzl, down 30p at 2,262p, and Royal Bank of Scotland, down 2.8p at 254.8p. The Costa Coffee owner’s shares were among the best performers on the FTSE 100, after reporting a 3.2 per cent rise in total sales in the first quarter. The low-cost African airline plummeted after saying that it could go bust if current talks with shareholders about raising funds fail.