The FTSE 100 climbed on Tuesday morning after US president Donald Trump confirmed the US-China trade deal is ‘fully intact’.
Trump moved quickly to calm worries after one of his top China trade advisers, Peter Navarro, initially said in an interview with Fox News the deal was ‘over’ - sending Dow Jones futures and the Chinese Yuan plummeting - before backtracking and claiming his quotes were taken ‘wildly out of context’.
President Trump then tweeted that the trade deal was ‘fully intact’ and added, ‘hopefully they live up to the terms of the agreement!’.
FTSE FOLLOWS ASIA HIGHER
The comments led the UK’s leading basket of stocks, which is exporter-heavy, up 0.7% to 6,290 in early morning trade.
Asian stock markets were also reassured with China’s Shanghai Composite closing up 0.2%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 ending the trading day 0.5% higher and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong surging 1.3%.
Gold dipped 0.1%, but is still in the middle of a strong run at $1,754 per ounce, while Brent crude oil futures jumped 3.8% to $43.11 per barrel.
In company news, property portal Rightmove (RMV) fell 1% to 583p on announcing that it would continue to offer discounts to customers through August and September, taking another chunk out of its revenues.
Meat producer Cranswick (CWK) gained 2.4% to £37.18, after it hiked its final dividend on the back of higher profit, underpinned by new contract wins and strong export demand.
Wealth manager St. James’s Place (STJ) firmed 1.9% to 958p after its funds under management increased in May on-year, boosted by positive net inflows.
MUSIC TO INVESTOR'S EARS
Musical equipment retailer Gear4music (G4M:AIM) rallied 75p or 23% to 395p, having swung to a better-than-expected annual profit driven by margin improvement.
Tools, equipment and plant rentals group Speedy Hire (SDY) added 1.8% to 56.8p, even as it booked a 28% slide in annual profit owing to a write down on the value of its Geason Training business, offsetting a rise in sales.
Speedy Hire did not declare a final dividend, citing uncertainty caused by the coronavirus crisis.
Footwear retailer Shoe Zone (SHOE:AIM) slipped 1.7% to 86p as it swung to a first-half loss and scrapped its interim dividend, while warning the impact of the coronavirus crisis would likely be felt ‘for several years.’
Healthcare and industrial engineer Scapa (SCPA:AIM) slumped 11.9% to 105.7p, having swung to a deep full-year loss, after it lost a key contract with medical products group ConvaTec.
Specialist engineering group TP (TPG:AIM) jumped 7.3% to 8.26p on winning an initial contract worth £300,000 with Gulf Data International, an IT solutions provider and systems integrator based in Abu Dhabi.
