FTSE 100 Climbs Higher; Miners, Banks Post Strong Gains
(RTTNews) - UK stock market's benchmark index FTSE 100 climbed up sharply Wednesday morning, buoyed by optimism over a potential U.S.-Iran peace deal after U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a temporary suspension of "Project Freedom" in order to resume negotiations with Iran.
Shares from mining and banking sectors are among the prominent gainers.
The FTSE 100 was down 228.70 points or about 2.2% at 10,447.81 a little while ago.
Miners Fresnillo, Anglo American Plc and Antofagasta moved up 8.7%, 8% and 7.75%, respectively. Endeavour Mining climbed 6.3% and Rio Tinto surged 4.5%, while Glencore
Among bank stocks, Natwest Group gained 5.3%, HSBC Holdings moved up nearly 4.5%, Lloyds Banking Group advanced 4.3%, Standard Chartered gained 5.8% and Barclays climbed up more than 6%.
Rolls-Royce Holdings jumped nearly 8%. Melrose Industries gained 6.6%, IAG rallied 5.7% and Diageo moved up 5.2%. Prudential, Barratt Redrow, Persimmon, Spirax Group, ICG and Burberry Group were among the several other major gainers.
Energy stocks BP (down 3.5%) and Shell (down 3%) declined sharply as oil prices fell amid hopes of a potential peace deal between Iran and the U.S.
Smith & Nephew shed 2.7% and SSE slid 1.1%. Relx and Centrica were modestly lower.
In economic news, The S&P Global UK Composite PMI rose to 52.6 in April from 50.3 in the previous month, revised higher from the preliminary estimate of 52.
The S&P Global UK Services PMI was revised slightly higher to 52.7 in April from a flash estimate of 52, up from March's 11-month low of 50.5.
