BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks eked out modest gains on Thursday as U.S.-Iran tensions eased and China announced that Vice Premier Liu He will travel to Washington to sign the first phase of the trade deal with the U.S. next week.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 24 points, or 0.32 percent, at 7,598 after finishing marginally higher on Wednesday.
International Cons Airlines Group shares rose over 1 percent. The Anglo-Spanish multinational airline holding company announced that Willie Walsh has decided to step down as chief executive in March.
Retailer Tesco rallied 2.1 percent as it reported its fifth consecutive rise in Christmas sales.
Marks & Spencer Group plunged 10.5 percent after it reported a 0.6 percent fall in U.K. revenue for the three months to the end of December.
Centamin rose about 1 percent. The company reported that 2019 gold production was 480,529 ounces, a 2 percent improvement from previous year.
Fourth-quarter gold production at the Sukari Gold Mine was 148,387 ounces, a 51 percent improvement on the previous quarter.
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