BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks bounced back on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said that he was optimistic about resolving the U.S. trade dispute with China.
'He just got back from China. We'll let you know in about three or four weeks whether or not it was successful ... but I have a feeling it's going to be very successful,' Trump said, referring to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's recent trade talks in Beijing.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 62 points or 0.86 percent at 7,225 after closing 0.6 percent lower in the previous session.
Bakery chain Greggs jumped as much as 12.6 percent after raising its profit forecast for a third time this year.
Miners Anglo American, Glencore and Antofagasta were up more than 2 percent while oil giant BP Plc rose 1.4 percent.
BHP advanced 1.7 percent after saying it would retain its Australian nickel assets.
Vodafone Group gained 0.6 percent after it agreed to sell its wholly-owned New Zealand subsidiary for an enterprise value of 2.1 billion euros or NZ$3.4 billion.
ITE Group rallied 2.3 percent on reporting a rise in first-half profit.
In economic releases, the U.K. jobless rate declined in the first quarter to the lowest since 1974, signaling continuing firming of the labor market, the Office for National Statistics reported.
The ILO jobless rate came in at 3.8 percent in the first quarter, while the rate was expected to remain unchanged at 3.9 percent. The rate has not been lower since last quarter of 1974.
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