BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks rallied on Monday as positive developments on the trade front helped investors shrug off weak domestic and Chinese data.
The United States and China have agreed to hold off on further tariffs against each other's products and continue their negotiations, potentially giving the world economy a reprieve.
On the data front, the U.K. manufacturing sector shrunk at the fastest pace in over six years in June, as factories reduced production due to weaker demand leading to an erosion of business confidence, results of a survey showed.
The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit/CIPS PMI dropped to 48 from 49.4 in May. Economists had expected the reading to improve modestly to 49.5.
Separately, U.K. mortgage approvals declined in May and households' borrowing logged the weakest growth in two years, data from Bank of England showed.
U.K.'s underlying economic conditions stagnated in the second quarter, the quarterly economic survey from the British Chambers of Commerce showed.
Elsewhere, Chinese manufacturing activity contracted for the first time in four months in June on trade disputes.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 83 points or 1.11 percent at 7,508 after closing up 0.3 percent on Friday.
Rio Tinto rose over 1 percent. The mining giant said it had appointed Barbara Levi to succeed Philip Richards as Group executive, Group General Counsel.
AstraZeneca rose half a percent after two drugs received positive opinions from the European Medicines Agency's advisory committee.
Shares of Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings advanced 1.6 percent after the luxury carmaker's largest shareholder said it is considering the possibility of increasing its stake in the company.
Future Plc shares soared 9 percent. The platform for specialist media said that its full- year results are expected to be ahead of expectations with the ongoing positive trends that were seen in the first half.
Mining company Fresnillo lost 3 percent after issuing a statement regarding tax treatment of mining works.
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