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London stocks marched higher along with the rest of global equities on Monday, underpinned by optimism over a U.S.-China trade-deal and deal news for the luxury-goods sector that lifted Burberry Group PLC.
The FTSE 100 index UKX, +0.90% rose 0.9% to 7396.02, after closing Friday’s session up 1.2%, the biggest one-day percentage gain since July 29. For the week, the index logged a 0.3% gain. The British pound GBPUSD, +0.5845% gained 0.4% to $1.2877.
In the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed a new vote on his Brexit deal by Christmas, along with several funding promises in the party’s manifesto that he launched Sunday.
“So far the manifesto launch for the Tories has avoided the slip-ups that doomed the 2017 campaign, providing further hope for markets that Boris will still be PM after the election. Such hopes continue to underpin the gains in sterling, regardless of the likely problems of 2020 when the next Brexit negotiations kick off,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, in a note to clients.
European and U.S. stocks climbed, in part due to trade optimism. Beijing said Sunday that it will increase penalties for intellectual property violations, a topic that has been a key sticking point for trade negotiations with the U.S. Investors were also eyeing a tweet from the Global Times — run by China’s ruling Communist Party — that said Beijing and Washington are “very close” to a that initial trade deal.
Reflecting gains in Europe, shares of luxury group Burberry BRBY, +2.80% shares rose 2.4% after LVMH MC, +1.82% announced a $16.2 billion deal for Tiffany TIF, +6.17%, ending weeks of speculation.
Pharmaceutical majors were higher, with AstraZeneca PLC AZN, +1.64% AZN, +1.89% up 1% and InterContinental Hotels Group PLC IHG, +3.01% added 1.6%.
