(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still firmer by midday on Monday amid hopes of a de-escalation in the latest trade dispute between the US and China.
The FTSE 100 was 0.2% higher at 9,441.90.
Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said: "Late on Sunday afternoon, Donald Trump seemed to backtrack on his threat to impose a further 100% tariff rate on China after it applied controls to rare earth mineral exports.
"The President posted on his Truth Social account, saying 'Don't worry about China, it will all be fine!', he said that President Xi 'had a bad moment' He said that the US wants to 'help China, not hurt it !!!' This seems fairly conciliatory, even if Trump will not take responsibility for escalating this latest trade war.
"However, this tweet does not suggest that there has been a solution to the latest trade spat between China and the US, and instead Trump appears to be suggesting that financial markets have overreacted to his threat of 100% tariffs. Thus, even if there is a stock market recovery today, investors could still remain edgy this week and continue the sell off if the situation deteriorates.
"The TACO trade, 'Trump Always Chickens Out', fueled the recovery rally in April, so if it looks like the same will happen again, then we could see markets absorb Trump's tariff threats relatively quickly, and volatility could retreat at the start of this week."
In equity markets, miners and precious metals miners were the standout gainers as gold and copper prices rose, with Fresnillo, Hochschild, Endeavour, Antofagasta, Anglo American and Glencore all up.
Lloyds advanced after saying it was putting aside a further 800m to cover compensation costs related to the motor finance mis-selling scandal. The bank said it has now made a 1.95bn provision, including both redress and operational costs, up from 1.15bn previously.
This follows the FCA's ruling last week that lenders must pay out 11bn including costs after finding "widespread failings" in how motor finance firms disclosed commission payments and commercial ties between lenders and brokers on agreements signed between 6 April 2007 and 1 November 2024.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "Investors chose to view the news positively since it removes a plank of uncertainty with regard to the eventual cost for the bank."
M&G was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at Berenberg, while Aviva edged up after RBC Capital Markets resumed coverage of the stock at 'outperform'.
Financial services firm Legal & General was up after saying that Scott Wheway will succeed John Kingman as chairman following the group's next annual general meeting on 21 May 2026.
Big Yellow surged after private equity firm Blackstone confirmed it is considering a possible offer for the self-storage company. Safestore Holdings also shot up.
IP Group racked up strong gains after saying it was "encouraged" by the results of a recent clinical trial of a Metsara obesity drug, which could result in future sustainable royalties if approved by regulators. The company, which invests in early stage businesses in the deeptech, life sciences and cleantech sectors, owns and exclusively licenses certain underlying IP relating to Metsera's programmes including its lead product MET-097i, a monthly injectable GLP-1 drug.
On the downside, Oxford Instruments slid after it confirmed a fall in first-half revenues, saying it had been hit hard by US tariffs.
AstraZeneca reversed earlier gains to trade down after striking a deal with the White House to cut prices of the drugs it sells in America, allowing it to avoid steep tariffs on US imports.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,441.90 0.15%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,058.82 1.18%
techMARK (TASX) 5,535.41 -0.39%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 2,564.00p 7.91%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,791.00p 3.64%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,963.00p 2.88%
M&G (MNG) 261.60p 2.63%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,162.00p 2.51%
Glencore (GLEN) 354.10p 2.39%
Entain (ENT) 820.80p 1.96%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,916.00p 1.93%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,938.00p 1.80%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,347.50p 1.70%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,199.00p -2.44%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,101.00p -1.87%
Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 3,064.00p -1.76%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,958.50p -1.21%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 84.42p -1.19%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,126.00p -1.10%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,440.50p -1.06%
F&C Investment Trust (FCIT) 1,185.00p -0.92%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 2,386.00p -0.91%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,714.00p -0.90%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 1,146.00p 18.76%
IP Group (IPO) 60.30p 13.56%
Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 726.50p 11.00%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 388.20p 7.12%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 3,288.00p 6.48%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 62.60p 4.95%
Vistry Group (VTY) 632.40p 4.63%
Great Portland Estates (GPE) 328.00p 4.13%
Ninety One (N91) 215.20p 3.56%
Genus (GNS) 2,635.00p 3.54%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,742.00p -12.02%
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 142.70p -2.66%
Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust (USA) 262.50p -1.69%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 493.00p -1.36%
Edinburgh Inv Trust (EDIN) 809.00p -1.22%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 146.00p -1.08%
Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) 343.00p -0.87%
Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust (EWI) 204.50p -0.73%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 486.00p -0.72%
JPMorgan Global Growth & Income (JGGI) 563.00p -0.71%
15.40 (0.16%)
0.00