UK stocks edge higher as investors assess US-EU deal
The internationally oriented FTSE 100 rose 0.1% as of 0926 GMT, while the midcap FTSE 250 index was up 0.3%.
The U.S. struck a framework trade agreement with the EU on Sunday, which imposes a 15% tariff on most EU goods and requires the bloc to invest around $600 billion in the U.S.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Scotland on Monday for talks ranging from their recent bilateral trade deal to the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza.
Automobiles and parts stocks led the sectoral gains, up 1.1%. The real estate sector advanced 0.8%, with Rightmove up 2.3% and Segro rising 1.1%.
On the flip side, industrial miners led the sectoral declines, down 0.9%, tracking lower metal prices.
Miners Glencore lost 1.4% and Rio Tinto fell 1%.
In company news, GSK rose 1.3% after the drugmaker and China's Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals agreed on a $500 million deal to develop up to a dozen new medicines, including a promising candidate for a chronic lung condition.
Ocean Wilsons Holdings lost 10.6%, top loser on the mid-cap FTSE 250 index, after the investment holding company and Hansa Investment agreed to an all-share merger to create a diversified investment firm with more than 900 million pounds ($1.21 billion) in net assets.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England is expected to slow the pace soon at which it shrinks its 558 billion-pound ($754 billion) holdings of government bonds, with economists hoping for some clarity next week on the central bank's longer-term goals for the stockpile.
Traders are currently pricing in an 86.5% chance of a 25 basis point BoE cut on August 7, according to data compiled by LSEG.
(Reporting by Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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