Europe’s markets gained on Monday, albeit most of the moves were modest, benefiting in part from news President Donald Trump delayed the March 1 tariff deadline on Chinese goods.
The FTSE 100 bucked this trend, falling as the pound rose on news U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has delayed a parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal.
How are markets performing?
The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, +0.26% gained 0.3% on Monday, after finishing up 0.6% for the week on Friday.
Italy’s FTSE MIB index I945, +0.95% was the regions top climber, adding 0.9% to 20,441.00.
The German DAX DAX, -0.57% rising 0.6% to 11,518.68, Spain’s IBEX 35 IBEX, +0.06% rose by 0.5% to 9,252.50 and France’s CAC 40 PX1, +0.41% jumped by 0.3% to 5,231.81.
The FTSE 100 UKX, +0.22% lagged with a gain of 0.1% to 7,191.04, held back by a strong pound GBPUSD, +0.1302% which fetched $1.3079 on Monday, a gain of 0.2%.
Meanwhile, the euro EURUSD, +0.2647% was also up, climbing to $1.1349 from $1.1335 late in New York on Friday.
What’s driving the markets?
President Donald Trump said that he would postpone the March 1 tariff deadline on $200 billion of Chinese goods, tweeting on Sunday that “substantial progress” had been made during negotiations between the world’s two largest economies.
Meanwhile in the UK, Prime Minister Theresa May has postponed parliament’s vote on her Brexit deal to March 12, a move described as “a huge gamble” by Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets.
“The chances are that her strategy is going to backfire because the MPs are likely to take control of Brexit and push the prime minister to the side,” said Aslam, in a note to clients. Still, sterling gained on the news amid relief that the March 29 Article 50 deadline will be extended.
What stocks are active?
Persimmon PLC PSN, -5.19% tumbled 7% on Monday, after the U.K.-listed home builder came under fire from housing minister James Brokenshire for its practices in a government-funded housing plan called “Help to Buy”, Reuters reported. In sympathy, Barratt Developments PLC BDEV, -1.74% and Taylor Wimpey PLC TW., -2.17% also dropped by around 3% each.
Among financials, the Bank of Ireland PLC lost 8% after the bank said its 2018 profit fell on lower interest margins, while Banco BPM Spa BAMI, +3.88% and Danske Bank AS DANSKE, +2.86% both added 3%.
Semiconductor maker AMS AG AMS, +6.32% led the regions top gainers, adding 5% to its share price.
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